Three Property Investment Hotspots

Hindsight can be painful and there must be very few investors who can honestly say that they’ve never missed out on a great opportunity either because they didn’t know about it at all or because they just didn’t see its potential.

Fortunately, one of the great joys of property investment is that opportunities present themselves all the time, especially if you go out and look for them. With that in mind, the team at Hopwood House have highlighted three property investment hotspots for 2019. These are all hidden (or at least very overlooked) gems with a whole lot of potential.

Leicester

At first glance, it might seem that the time to invest in Leicester is long over given that the area has seen property prices rise by over 250% since the year 2000. There are, however, a couple of very compelling reasons to consider investing in the Leicester property market.

Firstly, there is the fact that the aforementioned house-price inflation started from a very low base, in other words, property in Leicester is still very affordable, even compared to other northern cities and certainly when compared to London and the Thames Valley, although providing rubbish and waste disposal in London.

Secondly, Leicester has very strong international connections, particularly with Asia, which could stand it very well in a post-Brexit world.

Liverpool

Even though it is now widely recognised that Liverpool has gone from being an economic backwater (at best) to having a robust local economy, it can be easy to overlook just how quickly Liverpool’s economy is growing and hence to undervalue it as a property-investment destination.

The key point to appreciate is that economic growth typically leads to population growth (with Liverpool’s close neighbour Manchester being a case in point). A growing population means a growing need for housing, hence the excellent potential offered by property investments in Liverpool.

If anyone still has doubts about the seriousness with which the local authorities in Liverpool are treating the city’s process of regeneration, they can take a look at the sums of money being spent to ensure its long-term success. For example, the Liverpool Waters scheme alone has a £5 billion budget while the Regenerating Liverpool project has a budget of £14 billion.

Slough

For many years, Slough has tempted people out of London with the promise of more affordable housing and decent commuter links and not only does that promise still hold good, but when Crossrail arrives later this year, it will become even better.

What makes Slough something of a hidden gem, however, is that it is much more than just a London commuter town. To begin with, Slough has developed a very strong local economy of its own, which means that those who live in Slough do not necessarily have to commute outside of the town to go to work – and if they do, they have more options than just heading straight into the capital.

The economic hubs of Reading, Basingstoke and Watford are all just a short trip away, while Luton is only slightly further. What’s more, when residents of Slough have time off work, the beautiful Chiltern Hills are almost on their doorstep.