Worcestershire is a historic county with many picturesque towns and villages as well as larger commercial centres. These include Kidderminster, Evesham, Droitwich Spa, Malvern, Bromsgrove, Stourport-on-Severn and Redditch. Its county town is the cathedral city of Read more
Worcestershire is a historic county with many picturesque towns and villages as well as larger commercial centres. These include Kidderminster, Evesham, Droitwich Spa, Malvern, Bromsgrove, Stourport-on-Severn and Redditch. Its county town is the cathedral city of Worcester with Worcestershire also home to the scenic Malvern Hills and situated on the edge of the Cotswolds. The county has a population of 569,000 (2013 estimate), an increase of 5% from 2001. In August 2017, the average property was worth £259,432, a 1.21% house price increase over the previous twelve months.
Worcestershire’s central location makes it relatively easy to get to from other parts of the UK. The M5 runs north to south through the county with the M6, M40, M42 and M50 all within easy reach. Birmingham International Airport is approximately 40 minutes drive away, Manchester Airport 2 hours and Heathrow just over 2 hours distance. The average journey time to London from Worcester by train is 2 hours 25 minutes with over 60 trains a day. There are also good rail connections to Birmingham and across the county.
The South Worcestershire Development Plan sets out a plan to build 20,400 new homes, including retirement properties, in the Worcester City, Wychavon and Malvern Hills districts by 2030. The building of new home developments across Worcestershire is relatively healthy. For example, in 2016/17, new house building in Malvern hit a ten-year high with 363 new homes completed. As always, the Help to Buy scheme is there to give assistance to many looking for home ownership with a new build home mortgage.
With a general shortage of affordable homes and continuing increases in rent there are investment opportunities for the buy to let market although less compared to some other areas. However, buy to let is especially promising in Evesham, Pershore and Redditch. In Evesham, for example, a two-bedroom semi-detached house or apartment with a value of around £150,000 could be rented out for £650 a month giving a gross annual return of 5.2%.