16:33 PM, 28th June 2024, About 5 months ago
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It’s time to cut to the chase. We’ve all been thinking it: is property becoming more hassle than it’s worth? If you’re questioning your property portfolios, you’re not alone.
With persistent high interest rates, constant bombardments of tax warnings, the risk of Capital Gains Tax rising and a new Labour government with a super-majority talking about a beefed-up Renters Reform Bill with rent controls, the fear is that the UK will become increasingly difficult to make money from renting multiple properties. So does property still make financial sense?
Just a decade ago, soon after coming out of the financial crisis, property was a sure bet, with investors and entrepreneurs hailing it as the new Golden Era of property. Ultra-low mortgage rates, decent rental yields and property prices rebounding, the rental money was flowing in whilst we sat back and defied the corporate job rat-race. Cut to 2024; Landlords are exiting the sector in droves. But why? And should you be thinking of selling?
Right now, following the hiking of interest rates, the property market has flatlined, but it hasn’t significantly fallen. In fact, rents are excellent and the resulting yields are certainly still worth the investments. So what’s the difference that’s made landlords rush to exit? And why does it appear to be landlords in their 50’s plus?
The answer is simple: the “Golden Era” landlords now want to retire. Capital Gains Tax might increase significantly this year and landlords are an easy target to fund government spending. So if you were thinking of getting out, you might as well get out now and bank those hard-earned profits.
That said, landlords considering retirement still want to benefit from living off the passive income of property, they just want to increase the margins and cut the risk. This means downsizing their portfolios, selling some assets to generate cash to reduce gearing and thereby increasing rental profits, which also allows you to pay for refurbs to sell for the best prices. A tighter portfolio means much greater benefits from future house price growth.
But downsizing isn’t as straightforward as approaching an Estate Agent or auction. It means knowing how to sell tenanted properties to get the best prices, whether or not to do refurbs on the properties that need it and how to make the biggest profit from the sale.
That’s where portfolio exit specialists Landlord Sales Agency come in. We’ve built strong relationships with both private buyers and the top companies buying whole portfolios and right now buyers are keen to snap up deals whilst the rental market is strong with an upside in growth on the 5-year horizon as interest rates drop back.
Be it selling incorporated property companies, whole portfolios or part portfolios, it’s having the buyer-contacts and generating a bidding war that’s pushing up prices, which is why we’re selling landlords’ portfolios fast for the best possible prices, allowing landlords to financially thrive.
This is exactly what happened for a landlord with a block of 40 units he owned as a freehold development in Pembroke Dock. Like many landlords, he’d wanted out and needed a quick hassle-free sale but also a fair price. He had moved abroad, was working in Bahrain and continuing to own and manage this block was no longer a priority for him. Some of the units needed refurbishment and electrical certificates, and a couple of units had the usual challenges with tenants. However, it was a great yielding asset and generally well looked after with the landlord willing to sell at a fair price to move on.
Landlord Sales Agency knew exactly what to do and delivered. Our team of experts resolved every single issue, liaised with tenants, got rents and EICR and surveys sorted and marketed the block to our high-net-worth network of portfolio buyers. We brought in several eager property funds, pitching them against each other for the purchase. The results were outstanding: we sold every unit for more than the reserve price agreed with the vendor with all tenants in-situ. Every single issue on the property was resolved by our team of sales progression experts, working around the clock to get the job done.
In just 27 days we had sold the entire block for £1.4M alongside one of our partner commercial agents.
This isn’t a one-off case, 150 landlords per fortnight are rushing to speak to Landlord Sales Agency to ask about selling.
We’re getting properties sold fast, for high prices and we’re seeing landlords finally being able to get out of the market. If you don’t like the prices you get, you don’t have to sell, so there’s every reason to get in touch and let us help you. That’s why so many landlords are coming to us. And we’re delivering.
So if you’re interested, get in touch with Landlord Sales Agency today, and let us handle the rest. We’re here to help.
