Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard Property Blog

Leighton Buzzard property values and transactions continue to be sluggish, and the monthly peaks and troughs of house prices and properties changing hands doesn’t mask the deficiency of suitable realistically priced property coming onto the Leighton Buzzard property market.

The country needs a diversified and fluid property market to allow the economy as whole to grow and flourish ... which in turn will be a greater influence on whether prices go up or down in the long term. I am sure every homeowner or landlord in Dunstable & Leighton Buzzard doesn’t want another housing crisis like we had in 1974, 1988 and most recently in 2008

It can be seen that in 2016, 2.38 babies had been born in Central Bedfordshire for every home that had been built in the five years to the end of 2016 (the most up to date data). Interestingly, that ratio nationally was 2.9 babies to every home built in the ‘50s and 2.4 in the ‘70s.

Assuming there is one wage earner in the house, the chances of a Dunstable & Leighton Buzzard working family being able to afford to buy their own home, when it’s over eleven times their annual salary, is very slim indeed. The existing affordability crisis of people wanting to buy their own home is the unavoidable outcome of the decade on decade failure to build enough homes to keep up with demand

With top of the range Bank and Building Society Savings Accounts only reaching 1.5% a year, the rollercoaster ride of Crypto currency and the yo-yoing of the Stock Market, the simple fact is, with rental yields in Leighton Buzzard far outstripping current savings rates

An undersupply of affordable homes will artificially keep rents and property prices high. That might sound good in the short term, but a large proportion of my Dunstable & Leighton Buzzard landlords find their children are also priced out of the housing market.

Looking at the different sectors of the Leighton Buzzard property market, splitting it down into property types, one can see what is happening to each sector of the market with regard to their average asking prices now compared to a year ago

Demand remained strong in 2017 for Leighton Buzzard private rental properties, meaning the rents being achieved were at a decent level for landlords. Also looking at property values in Leighton Buzzard, over the last 12 months flats/apartments have risen in value by 3.54% whilst terraced properties have risen by 4.26%.

The hot topic at the moment is the cost of renting, as both political parties have seen mileage in wooing these Millennial Generation Renters. The average rent in Leighton Buzzard is currently £830 per month making this a big-ticket item on the monthly budget. I was inquisitive to find out exactly how much Leighton Buzzard Millennials will spend on rent by the time they reach their mid 30’s.