The Clapham Property Blog

So, another profitable year draws to a close. We all know that very little happens in the property market in these last few months of the year, so now is probably a good time to recap on what’s happened locally. It’s also a brilliant time to set your goals for 2016. How many properties are you planning on buying? Refinancing? Refurbishing? Adding value to? Let’s look at some numbers I’ve compiled, courtesy of Zoopla. My main aim is to point out areas of good growth for you, the investor. Brixton SW2 Clapham SW4 Average Value £496,886 up 5.22% £843,777 up 6.74% (12m) Flats £405,081 up 4.96% £566,979 up 5.36% (12m) Terraced £738,939 up 7.41% £1,344,463 up 7.95% (12m) Semi D £914,410 up 0.66% £1,808,612 up 0.66% (12m) Average Rent £1,822pcm £2,141pcm Average gross yield 4.4% 3% Numbe

The news I read the news of the most recent DPS survey and I was surprised to hear that most tenants wanted a short tenancy. Surprised was actually an understatement. I fell off my chair. It's certainly not often that I hear that from would-be renters in my agency. More often than not they ask for longer term because of the costs associated with moving, the security they are after and so forth. In turn landlords generally prefer those tenants who can commit for longer and as a result I turn away people that only want to rent for a short period (12 months or less). Client's preferences, you see. Long-term vs Short-term To my surprise The survey, taken by 39,855 tenants who have their deposits protected by DPS, revealed that 80.1% of them wanted tenancies that lasted no longer than 12 months. 34.60% of the total stated a preference for contracts of 6 months or less. That's amazing. Especially this time of year. I can honestly say that a good majority of my landlords