Kidderminster Homeowners Profit By £47,620 in Last 5 Years

Kidderminster Homeowners Profit By £47,620 in Last 5 Years

… yet Bitcoin investors would have made £10,406,730 in profit. Is investing in ‘Bricks & Mortar’ dead?

Investing in property has historically been a sound investment, yet alternative investments (like Cryptocurrency) have been gaining traction over the last five years. So, should we all ditch buying our own home and buy Bitcoin?

Cryptocurrency with such names as Bitcoin and Ethereum are being bandied about as the new investment vehicle everyone should be investing in. But is Crypto a sound investment or just an ‘end of the seaside pier one arm bandit’ speculation?

Well to start, I need to discuss the difference between investing and speculation.

I have always seen investing as making a thorough detailed evaluation (and you are sure your principal lump sum is relatively safe), you then have an opportunity to make a profit. Whilst speculating is all about putting your money into an asset that has ambiguous protection of your principal lump sum … and you have an opportunity to make a large profit but also the potential to make a huge loss.

In a nutshell, investment should be as interesting as watching paint dry, and speculating should be as exciting as putting all your money on red on the roulette wheel.

So, let’s see what has happened to both Cryptocurrency and Telford property in the last five years.

The average Kidderminster home five years ago was worth £208,970, today it’s worth £256,590.

We now ask, what would have been the return if you had invested the same amount in Bitcoin?

If you had invested £208,970 into Bitcoin in 2016,

What about the return if you had invested the same amount in Ethereum?

If you had invested £208,970 into Ethereum in 2016,

Yet only In June, when China placed stringent controls on how its population can use Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin dropped in value by 30% in one day. Also, this year, we saw another fall in Bitcoin when Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla were banning the acceptance of Bitcoins to buy its cars.

Can you imagine the value of your Kidderminster home dropping in value by £78,260 in just one day because of one tweet?

So, if Cryptocurrency is speculation and extremely high risk, surely buying your Telford home is an excellent investment?

It is my opinion, that purchasing a home to live in is a massive financial choice that can give you peace of mind and a lovely place to live, yet it is not an investment only because it goes up in value.

Between 1989 and today, Kidderminster property values, after removing inflation, have gone up by 50.37% … sounds great until you realise that is only 1.57% growth per annum (after inflation).

Sounds rubbish, doesn’t it? But does it really matter?

Even though your Kidderminster home’s value has outperformed inflation, a real investment needs more than the outlook of an increase in value.

A home has a more important primary purpose.

Possibly the specific biggest reason why your Kidderminster home is not an investment is that its prime purpose is providing a roof over the heads of you and your family. One of the most rudimentary issues that make an investment an investment, is your capability to decide the timing of your possession of the investment.

A true investment requires you to buy it and sell it at times (and under situations) that are probable to exploit your investment return, yet since your home is your family’s shelter, you will have hardly any power over the sale and purchase of your home from an investment perspective.

The absence of ‘real’ control over the timing of buying and selling our homes (and note I use the word home and not house) has had a significant harmful effect on property as an investment.

Buying a property is not a risk-free venture

In all my years in the property profession, I have seen numerous people buy houses at the top of the market (1988 and 2008) because that was the time that they required a home for their family, but those same people became stuck, having to sell their homes a few years later because of personal circumstances, albeit for a loss.

Then I have seen other Kidderminster people buy at the bottom of the market (1993 and 2011) because that was the time that they also required a home for their family, and those same people had to sell their homes a few years later due to personal circumstances, albeit for a huge profit. Are the second set of people more savvy investors? No, it was just good or bad timing, and that is not uncommon when it comes to buying homes, and so has to, in my opinion, exclude a home as an investment.

A Kidderminster home cannot be an investment unless you plan to sell it at the right time … and not buy another home.

While it is fact that Kidderminster homes usually increase in value, there is only a partial opportunity to tap into that growth. The best way to sell your home is after it has experienced a massive amount of value increase, sell at the top of the market, move into rented accommodation, then buy at the bottom of the market. Nevertheless, how do you know when it is the top and bottom of the property market (and moving home is considered the third most stressful thing you can do after death and divorce)?

Most people sell and buy another home, so when you do sell your home, you will have to use the profit you have made from the sale of your original home to purchase the next home as you will be moving from one home to another. This means your profit (equity) is trapped profit.

The only time that doesn’t happen is when you either trade down to a less expensive home or move into rented accommodation, yet both scenarios are quite rare occurrences.

Or… live there for the rest of your life and let your family/children inherit it.

Bitcoin doesn’t need a boiler replacing every ten years.

Every homeowner knows it costs money to maintain their home. Replacement windows, soffits, roof, carpets, kitchens, bathrooms, boilers, flat roofs – the list goes on. Over the 25 years of a mortgage, that can add up to many tens of thousands of pounds, yet one can justify those costs since your home is providing you shelter. But that gets back to the original principle – a home is a shelter, and not really an investment.

Is buying and renting out a property an investment?

The solid fact is that your Kidderminster home, the home that you live in, basically won’t provide any form of cash flow when you are a homeowner unless you move out and rent the whole house to someone else. That is called a buy-to-let investment – of course, that is an investment and I know many buy-to-let landlords who make a decent living at renting out their rental properties.

Of course, you could take in a lodger or rent rooms out as an Airbnb, and this will help you pay your mortgage, Council Tax, and other costs associated with homeownership, so it can be worth it for many. However, an “Englishman’s home is his castle” is quite apt and most of us aren’t good with sharing it with strangers.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble in reading this article. I must stress that I’m talking about our own homes as an investment and not a buy-to-let investment which is a completely different animal and certainly is an investment if done correctly.

One final thought – for those of you buying and selling Cryptocurrency – enjoy your roller coaster. For me, the thing about property is this; you can touch it, you can feel it, there is something reassuring about a 9-inch red brick and tiled roof. It’s home, it’s where you bring up your family, it’s where memories are made and the best investment you can make in life is with them, your family … and for that – it is a priceless and enduring investment.

Dawn Clarke

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