Investing near a railway station; is Johnson Road the ideal investment location?

Amenities, transport links are all vital to making a wise investment purchase. The question is to what extent is this true? One of my clients is looking at purchasing street local to our office in Erdington, Johnson road (0.2miles from Erdington Railway Station) and comparing it against another investment on Turfpits Lane, Erdington (1.4miles from Erdington Railway Station). Johnson Road and Turfpits lane are both streets I know well as we have let and managed a significant number of homes on both streets. Having spent many years renting them out my gut feeling was that houses on Johnson Road were quicker to rent and achieved higher rents due to the demand generated from its proximity to the Railway station. I took it upon myself to investigate to help my client make the best decision. It is notable that the Johnson road has properties come available on a more regular basis than Turfpits lane. The houses on both are a mix of mid terrace and semi-detached. They are similar in length of road with similar number of houses. Focusing solely on 2 and 3 bedroom houses that have been for let since 2013 I have found a significant difference in the speed that properties let on the two roads. Using the historical data available since 2013 the average house on Turfpits lane takes 42.25 days to go from being on the market to Let Agreed. In direct comparison Johnson Road takes 32.1 days. That 9 day difference is significant (roughly a £200 loss to the client) My client and I took it upon ourselves to compare some other roads and found that this was echoed all around Erdington and in other locations close to our office. Naturally there are many other factors at play when renting out a house, but the old saying “Location Location Location” remains true to this day! If you want to know more about investing in and around Erdington and Sutton Coldfield give me a call on 0121 321 6090.

One of my Landlords and I were having a discussion about buying on a busy main street in Sutton Coldfield. We got talking about how often they come up for sale and whether this was an off putting factor. Turnover or churn of property is an important factor to think of when buying a house. It is overlooked by many. What does this turnover mean? Turnover on the street is the number of houses available compared to how often they come on the sales market.

We sat down and had a look at the area in question, B72 post code, which runs from Sutton Coldfield Town centre all the way down to Wylde Green. It seems the natural trend is for certain road to come up for sale on a more regular basis than others. Taking Birmingham Road for example has had around a 102% turnover in the last 20 Years. This is not actually a relatively high percentage, as comparably taking the smaller road of While road, 134% turnover rate can be seen in 20 Years. This Value can be calculated for almost any street and can help in the decision making process when buying a home or investment...... My client and I came to the conclusion that as an investment a street with a higher turnover was good for him as it showed desirability and increased the chances of adjacent property being kept up to date with contemporary design (to keep up with the changing legislation and fashions that come in play when selling a home). If you want to know more about where is best to buy then give me a call and I will be happy to help Andrew Clinton 0121 321 6090