3,689 Solihull Homes bought by private landlords in the last 20 years – Is this the end for first time buyers?

There I was, out with the family at Umberslade Farm last weekend, when a smart gentleman approached me. We had met previously at a business networking event in Solihull a few months ago. He runs a small but perfectly formed well known independent retailers business in the town, we chatted whilst the respective family were preoccupied.

He wanted to know my thoughts on the future of the Solihull property market, and I thought I‘d share that conversation with you. People are always going to need a roof over their heads, it’s a necessity for every single person. The 22 to 30 year olds of the town do a choice to what type of roof they have, weather renting from the council or renting from a private landlord or they can get a mortgage and buy one. In the 1970’s through to 90’s the norm was to save like mad for two years for the deposit (going without luxuries) whilst living at home or renting a cheap two up two down, then buy your first house. However, more recently fewer Solihull youngsters have been buying and choosing to rent instead – mainly from private landlords (as Councils have been selling off council housing on the right to buy Schemes). The numbers are truly staggering and I want to share them with you.

Roll the clock back 20 years and Solihull was a different place. There were 38,631 households in Solihull and 31,800 of those were owner occupied. However, looking at today’s figures with all the building in town, the total number of households has increased by 31.5% to 50,798 and quite surprising, the number of owner-occupiers has increased to 41,098 (although as a proportion, it is only 80.9% compared to 82.3% of twenty years ago). However, its the rental sector that is truly fascinating … twenty years ago, only 1,553 properties were privately rented in Solihull and now it’s 5,242, a rise of 3,689.

The twenty somethings of Solihull housing difficulties haven’t been helped by the local authority selling off council housing, with the number of council houses dropping from 3,312 to 2,859 over, the same twenty-year period. The demand for decent rented property remains high, as Cameron’s much vaunted house building program is years away and has decades of under investment to catch up on before it starts to affect demand. Even with the Buy to Let tax rule changes over the coming few years (which will see the maximum tax relief available to landlords drop from 45% to 20%), private landlords still have an important role to play in housing the people of Solihull and those who educate themselves and treat it as a business will survive and prosper.

The best way Solihull landlords can protect their income from property (and mitigate the effects of the tax rises) is to keep the homes they let out in a very good condition. I have found, especially over the last three or four years, Solihull tenants have ever growing demands from their rental property, but many are prepared to pay more for houses and apartments that meet their high expectations. We must not forget, letting property in Solihull (in fact anywhere) is a business, so all private landlords should also seek the advice, opinion and commentary of property professionals.

... And just as the family reappeared, he asked ‘What of the news of Stamp Duty changes for Landlords coming in April?’ My thoughts are with such low supply (i.e. numbers of property for sale) and high demand it is hard to imagine Solihull property values will see much impact – but I predict, ever so slightly, the proportion of owner occupiers should increase slightly compared to buy to let landlords in the coming decade as the balance of the housing market resets itself. For more in-depth thoughts on the Solihull Property Market, which have a library of similar articles like this, all on the Solihull Property Market.