With investment levels in Stoke on Trent at their peak, and the global economy predicted to boom in the next few years, there has never been a better time to invest. If you wish to invest in Stoke check out this comprehensive guide for investing in Stoke-on-Trent. This guide will go over the basics of how to find the best places to invest in Stoke on Trent. The aim is to educate you and help you make wise financial decisions.

Capital growth in Stoke on Trent has been slow for the last 10 years but we have seen some great acceleration during Covid-19. We have seen house prices double from 2000 – 2004 but when the recession hit in early 2008, capital growth slowed down. Then from October 2016 to July 2017, prices rose by 0.35% according to the Land Registry data. The good old days of buying, re-mortgaging in 2 years to release equity to buy another house was over. Then February 2020 happened and Covid-19 hit and all of a sudden was a shortage of houses on the market, when matched with high demand we have seen house prices shoot up with about 12 – 20% in 2020/2021 depending on the type of property.

Terrace houses went up 12% in 12 months in 2020/21. It wasn’t just asking prices of houses that has gone up, we have also seen the rental prices go up, up to 22% for 2 bed houses in the 12 months. Terrace houses that were £390pcm just 4 years ago today would be marketed at £525pcm, provided the houses are in a good standard. That is a tremendous price growth which makes Stoke on Trent.

When you buy a 2 bed terrace house in Stoke on Trent your rental income can be lost to high or ongoing repairs and maintenance costs that can plague the aging housing stock. The majority of the housing stock are Victorian terraces built for the pot bank workers in the late 1890s which makes these houses almost 130 years old. So, what do you need to be aware of?

• Rise Damps

• Leaking roofs

• Single glazing

• No central heating

And then the government are planning to introduce a minimum energy rating of C for rental houses. Most Victorian terraces are rated D or E, so these would need to be upgraded, such as putting in thermostatic controls on radiators, LED lighting and solar panels to bring them to a category C. 

If and when you come to visit Stoke-on-Trent, do come to visit us, so we can discuss further. 

When buying a Buy to Let in Stoke on Trent, it is important to know that anywhere in Stoke will rent in the current market. We are now in 2022 and with the ever-increasing demand from tenants that want good affordable houses, it is difficult to keep up with demand. 

We at Hype lettings are running at a 100% occupancy for all our single lets. The reason I mention this is because we are desperate for more investment houses to add to our portfolio to meet with the increased demand.

About 4 years ago the government has started to make it difficult for investors to make money with their investment houses by changing the way that investors get taxed on their income from their houses. The consequences of that was that we saw a mass exodes of investors out of the market and over time this has created a supply and demand problem, with not enough houses for the demand of tenants. There now is just not enough investors around to supply the growing need of tenants looking for houses. 

So, with that in mind, where should I buy it? There are obviously areas that you should avoid investing in if possible and one way of spotting these areas is the price point of the houses in that area. There is the reason why the houses there are so cheap. Some of these are just of Waterloo rd. (please see map) some areas in Tunstall and then also some areas in Burslem. But even when looking at some of these areas, we do have houses there and rent them to good tenants that look after the houses as if they were their own. So just because it is a bad(rough)area doesn’t mean it is an un-investable place.

So when it comes to HMO’s we have seen it all, investors trying to give us what can only be described as a glorified shed that has seen many a winters and trying to tell us that they know the market and that they can easily fill it, to Investors that has seriously gone over the top when they did the refurbishments. In the end, location is key here.

When talking about HMO’s, you will have to divide it into 2 sections: 

1. Students
2. Professionals

So with that in mind: 

In Stoke on Trent, we have seen a shift in places as to where rooms rent well and where rooms don’t rent well in regard to students. In our opinion renting in and around the hospital and 2 universities that we have in Stoke on Trent is still a good idea. However, some parts where there use to be a high demand for students have dropped massively during the pandemic. Areas that have been affected are areas like Harts Hill, an area that worked well for students before, but now this is a good area for professionals. We have seen that Staff’s university has become a university where you will find that I high proportion of the students are now commuting into the university rather than getting a room for the duration of their studies.

So rather than talking about what areas don’t work, lets talk about what areas does work for students, Shelton is and will always be the area where Staff students would want to live. We would suggest that you don’t venture to far from there because students in general doesn’t want to commute to far to university. 

For the Keele students we have found that if you can buy in these areas located on the map you should be fine in getting your rooms rented quickly.

So for rooms without an en suit you can expect to get rent in the region of £350 – £400 pcm. This will be with all bills included. When we give this figure, this is what we are currently getting and what we can expect to achieve in the current climate of 2022. Also, for these prices, you will need to give a house that is of a high standard but doesn’t necessarily need to be of high spec.

For en-suit rooms, it is a bit different, you can expect to achieve £450 – £550 pcm. This will massively depend on the size of the room and to flow/layout of the house and room. The mistake many investors make is that they think that by adding an en-suit they can expect massive rents. That isn’t the case and if you didn’t do your homework and designed the house right en-suits can be a hindrance rather than an asset to the room. So please make sure that your builder is in the know with building regulations and understands what the current market demands. To many times we hear that “I’ve been doing this for years”

In fairness, there isn’t that much difference in the professional market to the students when it comes to the style and decoration of the house. Where things does change is obviously the location of where to invest. We have seen changes over the years of areas that works well and then for some reason people stop renting rooms. 

SO please have a look at the areas that we feel are still good areas to invest in for HMO’s and where we are confident that should you have rooms to let here we would be able to fill them quickly.

Please remember that all the info here is based on the current marketplace and as stipulated throughout the document the marketplace changes all the time. Also, this document is only covering a very small part of what investing in Stoke entails and all it has to offer. We only covered some of the questions that we get in the hope that you will find it interesting and that it will help you in your investment journey. If we haven’t highlighted an area that you think is a good area, please give us a call and we would be happy to have chat. Or alternatively you can go to our website and register for one of our Discovery Days.

1. You give us a call because you already have a house or houses that you need renting out, and one of us would be happy to have a chat with you.

2. You can book a place on one of our discovery days where we go into great depth about what Stoke has to offer and why this is a great place to invest in.