There I was, out with the family at Belair Park last weekend, when a smart gentleman approached me. ‘Hello’, he said, ‘You are the person writes that Property Blog aren’t you? We have met before at that Business Networking event in East Dulwich a few months ago’. I did then recognise him and, whilst I wont mention his name, he runs a small but perfectly formed well known independent retailers in the suburb … It’s amazing who you see when out walking! Anyway, I was at a loose end for five or ten minutes as the other half was sorting things with the family, so we had a chat.

He wanted to know my thoughts on the future of the East Dulwich property market, and I would now like to share with you that conversation, my East Dulwich property Blog reading friends. People are always going to need a roof over their heads and somewhere to live will never go out of fashion – it’s a necessity for every single person. The 22 to 30 year olds of the suburb have a choice to what type of roof they have … they rent from the Council, they can rent from a private landlord or finally they can get a mortgage and buy one. In the 1970’s/80’s and 90’s, the expected thing was to save like mad for two years for the deposit (going without luxuries) whilst living at home or renting a cheap two up two down, then buy your first house. However, more recently fewer East Dulwich youngsters have been buying, choosing to rent instead – mainly from private landlords (as Councils have been selling off council housing on the Right to Buy Schemes). The numbers are truly staggering … and I want to share them with you.

Roll the clock back 20 years and East Dulwich was a different place. There were 105,466 households in the Southwark area and 26,411 of those were owner occupied. Move to the present, and with all the building in the suburb, the total number of households has increased by 14.18% to 120,422 and quite surprising (to me at least), the number of owner-occupiers has increased to 35,330 (although as a proportion, it is only 29.3% compared to 25% twenty years ago).

However, it’s rented sector that is truly fascinating … twenty years ago, only 9,408 properties were privately rented in Southwark … and now its 28,493, a rise of 19,085.

The twenty somethings of East Dulwich housing difficulties haven’t been helped by the local authority selling off council housing, with the number of council houses dropping from 49,461 to 37,628 over the same twenty-year period. Demand for decent rented property remains high, as Cameron’s much vaunted house building program is years away and has decades of under investment to catch up on before it starts to affect demand. Even with the Buy to Let tax rule changes over the coming few years (which will see the maximum tax relief available to landlords drop from 45% to 20%), private landlords still have an important role to play in housing the people of East Dulwich and those who educate themselves and treat it as a business will survive and prosper.

The best way East Dulwich landlords can protect their income from property (and mitigate the affects of the tax rises) is to keep the homes they let out in Grade A condition. I have found, especially over the last three or four years, East Dulwich tenants have ever growing demands from their rental property, but many are prepared to pay ‘top dollar‘ for houses and apartments that meet their high expectations. You must not forget, letting property in East Dulwich (in fact anywhere) is a business, so all private landlords should also seek the advice, opinion and commentary of property professionals.

… And just as the other half had sorted the family, he asked ‘What of the news of Stamp Duty changes for Landlords coming in April?’ My thoughts are with such low supply (i.e. numbers of property for sale), and high demand it is hard to imagine East Dulwich property values will see much impact – but I predict, ever so slightly, the proportion of owner occupiers should increase slightly compared to buy to let landlords in the coming decade as the the housing market should return to balance. For more in-depth thoughts on the East Dulwich Property Market, which have a library of similar articles like this, all on the East Dulwich Property Market, please visit my blog.