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.