698% - Rise in Stoke on Trent Property Prices since 1981

Roll the clock back 35 years to 1981, and Mrs. T was in power, we had a Royal Wedding, Britain won the Ashes and Bucks Fizz won Eurovision with ‘Making your Mind up’.   Haven’t things changed.  The number of homeowners and property investors who said they wish they had hindsight and bought up every house in Stoke on Trent all those years ago, especially when you consider what has happened to Stoke on Trent property values, as…  

Stoke on Trent Property Values since 1981 have risen by 698%. 

Not bad when you consider inflation over the same time period has been 271.9%, meaning in real terms (i.e. after inflation), property values in Stoke on Trent are 426.1% higher.   It’s no wonder people can’t afford to buy property anymore and landlords are attracted by bricks and mortar. Yet the changes to the Stoke on Trent Property market run much deeper than property value changes as no one could have predicted how the property market has changed in Stoke on Trent over the last 30 years. 

 

 

Looking at the Local Authority data for Stoke on Trent City Council in 1981, 36% of Stoke on Trent people lived in a Council House, whilst today its 24.2% ... a massive drop which can mostly be attributed to Margaret Thatcher allowing Council tenants the right to buy their Council House.  The private rental sector since 1981 has, as one would have expected, also changed.  The proportion of properties privately rented in the Stoke on Trent area (i.e. through a private landlord or a letting agency) has almost doubled, rising from 7.5% to 14.4% of property.

So, let us consider those people who own their own home, surely that has had a massive drop?  In 1981, the proportion of people who lived in the Stoke on Trent City Council area who owned their own home was 56.4% … and today its … 59.4%. Not the seismic change most of you were expecting (including myself!).

Homeownership in the 1980’s and 1990’s in Stoke on Trent did in fact rise, but as I have discussed in previous articles in the ‘Stoke on Trent Property Market Blog’, that was because nearly every Council tenant was buying their council house. Now there are hardly any Council houses for the younger generation to move into (because of the right to buy scheme) so they have no choice but to privately rent. 

.. and this is why the buy to let market in Stoke on Trent is an investment sector that will continue to grow as councils aren’t building council houses in their thousands each year (like they were in the 1950’s/60’s and 70’s).  The Stoke on Trent property market is constantly changing and buy to let for too long has been heavily dependent on house price growth, where yield has been almost forgotten.  I see the changes in tax and landlord and tenant law in a different perspective to the sooth-sayers and see it as bringing many opportunities where yield will become more important.   

Like Bucks Fizz said in their song, it’s time to make your mind up. The advice I give to my landlords, and also to you my blog reading friends is this; these changes will make some landlords panic, meaning competition for decent Stoke on Trent buy to let bargains will reduce as fear of change kicks in and amateur investors flee the market.  These opportunities will provide a more stable platform for knowledgeable and wise Stoke on Trent buy to let landlords to thrive in.  If you want to learn more about the Stoke on Trent Property Market, feel free to pop in to the office for a chat, or failing that, visit the Stoke on Trent Property Blog, where you will find many more articles like this solely on the one topic of the Property Markets in Stoke on Trent and Newcastle under Lyme