Press Release Summary = The home of the largest mirror ball in the world is attracting buy-to-let investors, keen to cash in on a new trend in the seaside town in England\'s north-west.
Press Release Body = The home of the largest mirror ball in the world is attracting buy-to-let investors, keen to cash in on a new trend in the seaside town in England\'s north-west.
Blackpool is experiencing an \"amazing\" increase in buy-to-let investment, according to a local estate agent, while individual property developers are snapping up houses in need of repair to renovate and sell for a profit.
Mark Fletcher, the manager of a local branch of McDonald and Company in Blackpool, said there is an \"awful lot\" of buy-to-let activity in the town. \"There were some rental surveys recently and the amount of buy-to-let borrowing going on between 2001 and 2007 is amazing,\" he commented.
Across the whole of the UK, buy-to-let investors seem confident about the market. A report released by Mortgage Express last month showed that 96 per cent of those with buy-to-let portfolios expect their rents to either go up or stay level during the rest of 2007.
More than half of them also indicated that they are planning to buy more properties during this time, with the firm\'s director of mortgages Andy Wiggans commenting that this reflects a strong market.
He said: \"Buy-to-let remains a popular market that attracts a wide spectrum of people from all walks of life looking for long-term capital growth or a means of supplementing their pension.\"
Meanwhile, buy-to-let investors looking for a bargain could do well to consider the options of Blackpool. The Land Registry of England and Wales noted in June that a typical property in Blackpool cost around £111,038, but Mr Fletcher explained that many first-time buyers are snapping up properties for £80,000.
However, in the suburbs of Blackpool the price goes up, with average properties in Bispham reaching £125,000 and attracting older buyers, he added.
Bispham and Norbreck are popular areas for people buying homes for their retirement, according to Mr Fletcher, while first-time buyers - and arguably landlords who want to attract young professionals as tenants - have \"more options\" in Blackpool itself.
\"Younger people don\'t want to live in an area that\'s all bungalows, full of older people that are probably not going to appreciate them having fast cars and loud music,\" Mr Fletcher commented.
But despite varying preferences among different groups of buyers, it seems the whole of Blackpool offers investment opportunities. Asked about which areas buyers should avoid in Blackpool, Mr Fletcher highlighted \"the usual, larger council estates\", adding: \"That\'s about it really.\"
And while Blackpool may have lost some of its appeal as a holiday destination in recent years, resurgence seems to be on the way, meaning that buy-to-let property owners will have more people enquiring about short-term holiday lets.
The director of the British Resorts and Destinations Association recently commented that there is \"constant development work\" being undertaken in British resort towns in a bid to encourage people to visit.
He said: \"Blackpool seafront is being completely reconstructed from a very bland, boring affair to a shiny, all-singing-all-dancing sculpted seafront with all sorts of attractions on it.\"
2022
