Student buy to let property has traditionally been viewed as a gold mine
by many landlords. After all, students need somewhere to live when they
are studying away from home and the income is likely to be regular,
which is great for cash flow. But despite the obvious attractions of
buying HMOs and marketing them at the student sector, landlords from a
popular university city have put their properties up for sale.
Potential Family Homes
40 HMOs in the busiest student area of Manchester have all been placed
on to the market for a combined total of around £11.4 million. The
properties have been split into three separate lots and are expected to
attract a great deal of interest. Local residents on one of the affected
streets are hoping that prospective purchasers will convert the
properties into family homes, but have described the houses for sale as
“tatty” and “damp”, so any landlord looking to expand his or her
property portfolio may have to spend money on them.
One resident’s association spokesperson has been quoted as saying:
“We would love more of the houses in our area rented out to families.
The students themselves are lovely but the problem is in summer when
they all leave and it’s like a ghost town.”
Competitive Halls of Residence
In recent years, landlords have been able to cash in on demand for
student properties because purpose built student accommodation has been
in very short supply. On this occasion, however, local halls of
residence are providing landlords with some stiff competition and
students are choosing to stay in halls rather than off campus.
It will be interesting to see if this is a pattern that emerges in other
popular university cities, or whether Manchester is just a blip.
