Do semi-detached properties in Chelmer Village make good investments for Buy to Let?

I was talking to someone who lives in one of those modern 4 bed detached houses in Chelmer Village, at the Southern end with the views over the countryside and the river. Chelmer Village was built primarily in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s and offers mostly larger executive detached houses at the Southern end of the development, with smaller detached houses, semis and town houses in the rest of the area. (not forgetting some further posh ones around the Chancellor Park area). Interestingly though, of the 4,478 properties in Chelmer Village, over 1,696 of them are detached (or 38%), compared to the 30% average on Chelmsford, (something that wouldn’t happen today with the price of land). There are also 1,995 semi’s and town houses with the remainder being made up of apartments.

Anyway, he is eager to purchase his first Buy To Let property and has noticed our previous articles, so he was interested in getting to know the property industry a little better. As he has lived in the Chelmer Village area for almost 10 years, he felt comfortable investing around there as he knew it well. We started to discuss the property market in this area. With my local knowledge, I was able to tell him that there are plenty of 3 bed semi’s here, the larger ones can be bought for around £280,000 and a good one rents for around £1100 per month, a healthy yield of 4.7% per year. In the last 5 years, semi’s in Chelmsford on average have risen in value by around 20%, which when you consider the overall Chelmsford average property value increase is only 17% over the same time frame, it is good news all around!

So with a reasonable yield and excellent capital growth, semis in Chelmer Village, especially 3 beds, could make a decent future investment. Whether you are a landlord of ours or not, or someone thinking of investing in the rental market for the first time, drop by our offices in Duke Street for advice on where the bargains are in Chelmsford.