Saturation of the Chelmsford rental market?

Someone emailed me after the reading the blog and asked about saturation of apartments in Chelmsford.

Don't worry about saturation - there's no sign of this currently. If you gave a letting agent 10 or even 20 terraced houses in Chelmsford, they would find you tenants, provided you priced them sensibly. They wouldn't be able to find 20 immediately, but I'd do one or two  a week for 10 weeks without too much trouble. 

Some times with new build developments, for example St. Johns  site(in Moulsham), sometimes all the properties complete on the same day, and all the landlords who bought those properties all put them up rent on the same day. That creates a short term problem with supply and demand, but once the initial hurdle is overcome, normal service resumes.

Whether you should buy new build is another question! Some people do this as it looks nice and everything is guaranteed. If you're a good negotiator you may be able to get the builder to chuck in all the things you need to get it let - appliances, window blinds, flooring. It's an ultra low risk approach to buy to let. However you will always pay a premium for a new build property and whether it makes financial sense is another question entirely! 

Compare these 2 properties:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-43653851.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42405869.html?premiumA=true

They are both going to rent for the same money - £1200PCM. But one is £38,500 more than the other. A lot of people would still be more attracted to the new one as it's much prettier, but if these were the only 2 properties available I know where I'd be sticking my money! What I'd spend the £38.5k saving on is another matter entirely.

PS .. Don't you just love this roadsign when you drive back to Chelmsford!