When Covid-19 hit the property market in mid-March 2020, investors everywhere held their breath in anticipation of a world wide property market crash. Mortgages from high-street banks bottomed out, exchanges and completions stalled across the country, and thousands of tenants were left in limbo about their employment situation after furlough—nobody knew what was happening!
Investors became increasingly concerned not just about the strength of their property portfolio's, but also about the prospect that they may need more regular income in the months to come. After lengthy discussions with the developer of Wishing Well, our Directors were able to offer a solution that would help ease the worries of our investors who were worried about the implications of Covid-19 on the UK property market.
Through Wishing Well, we were able to offer or investors 2-bedroom apartments in a high growth area for less than £100,000. The developer set these prices 15% below the current market value to alleviate any concerns that our investors had about the pandemic eating into their portfolio value. We decided that no mortgages would be permitted due to the increasing uncertainty of the mortgage market so only cash buyers could invest.
We also agreed to a pre-let tenancy on all 41 apartments so that any investors could begin earning rental income from day-1, helping to ease any investor concerns about cashflow through the pandemic.
By August 2020, just six months after launch, all 41 apartments had been sold mainly to domestic investors who saw the value and added security of investing in a completed development that generates immediate, regular income with no mortgage payments due. We're proud of this achievement and wish to congratulate the WW investors on their purchase.
Bootle is an economically crucial suburb of Liverpool that is very much on the rise, and demand for buy-to-let opportunities for those looking to get into Liverpool property investment is increasing.
The town is experiencing a huge housing and regeneration boom which is fuelling an ever increasing interest and demand in the area from both a property rental and sales perspective.
The renaissance of the area is seeing property prices sky rocket and swathes of new jobs created, both of which continue to drive rental demand higher and higher.
Halifax has recently placed Bootle in its top 20 UK buy-to-let hotspots, a prestigious accolade for the town.
