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I know this isn’t an answer to your question, but given that investing in London isn’t really a big part of the board, I thought I’d throw a question in here.

What sort of return (and outlay) are you looking at and how did you manage to do the finance? I’d really love to invest in London, but prices seem crazy (and rents not up to the point where they pay for themselves).

I’ve looked at http://www.home.co.uk which seems to give a fairly good indicator of price, and UK prices seem to be as crazy (if not more so) than ours.

Any info would be great.

Thanks in advance
Cheers,
Jon.

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Jon,

I have been living in London now for 5 years, and am ready to come home soon.

The capital growth in house prices over the last 5 years has been amazing. Alot of Buy to Let mortgages have soaked the market in the last 2 years, as the stock market has scared off a lot of private investors.

That aside, I am looking at getting a BTL mortgage with a property which rents out at around 130% of the mortgage repayments. There are still properties that are available. For a BTL over here, you need around a 20% deposit.

I am looking for a 1 or 2 bedroom flat in central london to Greater London (Needs to be inside the M25 Motorway).

I have thought about waiting until I get back home to invest in property, but strongly believe that London House prices will continue to gain in capital growth (even though in some ‘upper class’ areas of central london like chelsea and Kensington) that house/flat prices have started to drop.

I am looking at an investment window for 5 – 10 years.

Considering London is a very popular place for worldwide travellers, I believe that the rental demand in the capital will always be high. As house prices are too high, potential first time buyers can’t afford to get on the property ladder at the moment, so they are being forced back into the rental market.

I am looking at a Flat around the £150,000 mark, so will come up with a £30000 deposit. Hopefully, after that, my tennants will pay the rest of the mortgage off.

hope this helps.
Diana