London buy to let

Wandsworth – the new hot spot for buy to let landlords?

Wandsworth is the kind of area where all families want to live. The close-knit community and village atmosphere, combined with good schools, together with excellent shopping and great property variety means that no Wandsworth estate agent has any trouble closing deals. Transport links are amongst the best in London with easy access into Waterloo, the City, Docklands, Victoria, the West End and City, Gatwick and Heathrow airports. Even Stansted is only 1 hour 40 minutes from Clapham. In fact, Wandsworth property is in great demand because once families move in, they often stay for life. Buy to let landlords too tend to hold stock for a long time, delivering as it does an attractive combination of high yield and steadily rising capital values.

Wandsworth Property Prices

Expect to pay anything from £230,000 for a well-placed one bed flat. Two bedrooms can cost anything from £280,000 to £400,000, three bed family houses are regularly selling for up to £800,000, depending upon size and location and there is a good variety of 4 and five bed homes for anything from £900,000 to £2 million.

Rental yields are strong, as they area is so popular – over 5% is not unrealistic for a larger property and smaller flats will often touch 6%.

The classic buy to let is likely to be a 1 or 2 bed flat, but it is not uncommon for professional sharers to want larger properties and families too will rent to be close to the better schools. This makes the job of London property search agents easier – if it is a family looking to move into the Borough, school catchment area is key, if the client just wants a base, commuting times and distance from the station are vital. Luckily, very few parts of the borough are more than a 10- 15 minute walk from a major station, whether tube(Northern line) or train. Buses are modern and regular and connect well with other transport hubs.

In the centre of Wandsworth, the old Arndale Centre has become Southside, a high end retail destination in its own right with cinema, a wide range of clothes stores and restaurants and of course Waitrose. Over the next 5 years, this area will be transformed as the old Young’s brewery is redeveloped and the River Wandle opened up to the community. Buy around these streets and you could be looking at soaring values.

Prices in Wandsworth have been on the move since January and agents report quick and easy sales. For the expatriate landlord therefore, Wandsworth holds great potential, but it is important that mortgage funding is in place, so the estate agent will take your interest seriously. That is another reason for using a search agent, having an on the ground presence can redress the balance and give overseas buyers the same access to properties as local residents.

Funding for expat or international mortgages is available from a number of sources – building societies , banks, private banks and even overseas banks. However, as an overseas buyer, you need to be sure you are talking to the right organisations, as many will offer loans, but when  it comes to the crunch, as soon as they find out you are based overseas they will reject your application, wasting valuable time.