As someone looking to invest in a buy-to-let property; you generally have one main decision to make and that is as to the type of investment property you purchase. Do you opt for student accommodation, private rental accommodation or even holiday accommodation? There’s advantages and disadvantages to all types of buy to let properties and, as you’d expect, the returns can differ greatly…but so can the workload involved!
As an example, you’ll typically need to be far greater involved in a student property than you would a private rental one; given that students will generally change year on year and that they’re often more ‘needy’ than say a family would be. On the flip side, however, you’ll usually see a more attractive return on the grounds that you could have four, five or even more students sharing a house.
In recent years, however, since around 2011, we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of property investors putting their money into holiday homes. Some of that, as you’d expect, is cottage accommodation but one of the largest areas of growth has been that of serviced apartments and our top tip today is to seriously consider your opportunities here should it be something that appeals to you.
With an increasing number of travellers and holidaymakers choosing to stay in a serviced apartment over a hotel or B&B (check out the below infographic titled ‘Travel Habits For City Breaks Around The Globe” for further insight and justification as to why it’s such a great industry to be investing in), it’s unsurprisingly becoming somewhat of a hotspot for investment. Why? Because in many instances, you won’t struggle to find an agent who will be more than happy to let out your apartment on your behalf. As such, in many cases, you needn’t worry about finding bookings and can simply focus on the running of the apartment. Yes, it’s not easy work given the tenant turnover, however it is widely assumed that “serviced apartments are able to offer much higher rental returns – potentially 300% more than normal buy-to-let.”
Whilst it’s not for everyone; for those wanting to take a slightly different BTL approach, it’s an attractive one and one within an industry that continues to grow year on year at a sizeable rate!
Of course, if you’re looking for buy to let mortgage advice, why not give us a call on 0800 756 7794 and have a chat with one of our advisors?
In the meantime, for further justification as to why serviced apartments could well be this year’s great BTL investment, here’s the previously mentioned infographic: