The Kingsnympton Park Outperforms the Charters Quay’s by 48%

I spoke about a conversation I had with a landlord, who lives in Coombe Lane near Coombe Lane Golf Course, who took me up on the offer of an informal chat about the Kingston property market the other week after he read the ‘Kingston Property Blog’.  We got talking about investing in Kingston upon Thames property and how different areas of the town performed against other areas. Investing in Kingston upon Thames property is a balancing act between capital growth and yield. On the one hand going for strong capital growth seems an obvious choice because of the potential to generate long term capital profit, especially with inflation eating away at our savings. However, rental yields on high capital growth properties tend to be low, meaning if you are taking a high percentage mortgage, the rent doesn’t pay the mortgage payments.

It became really interesting when we compared the Charters Quay, where he owns a medium sized 2 bed apartment against the Kingsnympton Park Estate, where he was brought up in the 1950’s. The 2 bed apartments sell for £650,000 (although some of penthouses go for ‘7’ figures) and rent for £2,350 per month. This would give our landlord a yield of 4.3% per year .. very reasonable indeed. Until you consider those ex-local authority apartments in the Kingsnympton Park estate, which sell for around £230,000 and let, depending upon condition, for around £1250 per month a yield of 6.4% per year, which is a 48% proportionally higher yield.

However, like I said a few weeks ago, yields are not everything in property investment. Another is how the value of the property goes up over time. Better properties in better locations don’t have the best yields, but their property values tend to go up quicker over the long term. The average value of an apartment on the Kingsnympton Park estate at the turn of the Millienium  was £86,066, which means values on the Kingsnympton Park have risen by 167%, whilst apartments in Charters Quay have, on average, risen by an impressive 292%.

It’s just looking at the Kingston upon Thames property market in more depth which enables me to give you the best advice and opinion to help you find the best investment property. It is in our interest that you buy a property which will rent well, and for long periods of time. If you would like any advice on choosing properties, please come and see me at our office in Kingston Hill, opposite the Hospital.



August 2014