Local Knowledge - LINCOLN

It seems that Lincoln (not my local area) has an oversupply of rental property at the moment. I have been offered a few houses over the last few weeks, typical student lets.

After some cursory research into the area, it seems that the bottom line is that there are not enough students. I have heard the university is set to expand, does anyone know about this? Should I be snapping up these investments now?

Bob

Bob Although I now live in Bedfordshire I still regard Lincoln as my second home, I lived there for 30 years. I have been looking very closely at the market in Lincoln and your quite right it appears that a) there has been a rapid rise in property prices over the last couple of years and b) the rental market, certainly for student lettings has been saturated. All credit to the City though, it has undertaken huge developments in its infrastructure and also the surrounding areas. It is now an extremely popular area for tourists but unfortunately there seems to be few rich pickings for investors, certainly not in the buy to let market anyway. Shame I didn't have the funds five years ago!!, but we all say that dont we.

The university has further growth in the pipeline. There is also a brand new student block close to the Brayford which has been well accepted by the students who these days require "all mod cons". these units accommodated around 5 students and were being sold for about £250,000 - rather high for Lincoln I thought!

Hi, from what i have heard from the other side of the Humber , the inside trade talk is that Lincoln is doing very very well, £100k just for a small old 2up/2down ter. so maybe £250k not to high if you do get the return .

Hi

Im an investor in Lincoln and have lived here all my life, I incidently also taech at the University.

I have four multi lets in the city none of which I rent to students. I rent to Eastern European workers, of which there are lots, and all good tenants so far. I have full occupancy and returns of between 6.6 and 12%.

I also have straight lets at 1-4% return.

I would not go near students as the University is currently building over 1000 new beds.There was already an excess of student beds before this with estimates of 500 empty beds in the city. Student numbers are set to expand but in the short term there are likely to be significant voids.

Capital growth is small or nearly static but here is where local knowledge does help as I get offered good properties by agents where people want quick completion or are flexible on price.

There are also some good off plan deals going at the moment.

Lincoln is still a good solid investment, I feel, though not for short term gain unless you are in the know.

Gary

thanks for that input Gary. thats what we need on this site , good local knowledge . thanks again.

Another piece of info that might be helpful to anyone thinking of investing in Lincoln. The Art College wing of the Uni which is currently at the top end of Lincoln (ie near Cathedral) will probably be incorporated into the main campus in a few years. It would therefore be unwise to invest in student lets at that end of town.

My question is not exactly for Lincoln but close - Gainsborough. I am looking at investing in an off plan redevelopment of an old commercial building into apartments.

What is the rental market like at the moment? Also, should I decide to sell rather than let is this the sort of development that would be likely to appeal to potential buyers?

Bob