Where to buy in the current property market

Even if you don’t pay much attention to the current state of the property market it can’t have escaped your attention that this once irrepressibly ascendant market has finally started to look a bit jittery. Talk of a market slowdown is hard to escape these days and one could easily be deterred from even contemplating an investment.

Are there still areas resilient enough to escape the effect of this widely predicted slowdown though? According a recent article in The Times there are indeed. The article in question, ‘The 20 best places to buy a property in Britain’ compiles a list of 20 ‘recession proof’ towns and posited that buyers investing in the right areas would have nothing to worry about, “almost regardless of when or, in most cases, what you buy.”

The list, that presumably excludes London, is dominated by affluent, well connected towns like Cambridge, Oxford and York that seem likely to remain secure thanks to a strong local economy and employment market, amongst other factors.

Of course, as with any investment, nothing is guaranteed and the article does warn that in the event of a full-scale recession these “fail-safe” investment towns would be “safer” but not completely immune to price falls.

So if you’re determined to make an investment despite the current climate what should you be looking for in a location to ensure that it’s relatively risk-free? The Times list takes a number of factors into consideration including the affordability of housing and how qualified the locals are. Cambridge, which tops the list, shows plenty of potential to remain prosperous with the University providing plenty of employment opportunities (a factor which also helps Oxford into third place), a thriving local economy and the arrival of new business in the shape of science and technology parks on the city’s outskirts. Add to this an abundance of desirable, well located period properties as well as decent local schools and Cambridge, along with York and Oxford, has all the makings of a (relatively) cast iron property market.

The other big factor is location, something that makes rather less picturesque towns like Milton Keynes, Guildford and Crawley good prospects; all are within a commutable distance of London, providing well-heeled workers with respite from the capital whilst maintain convenient proximity. This commuter-belt effect can be seen clearly in house prices; the average house price in Guildford is currently £403,667.

Finally, in a struggling market it becomes more important than ever to make sure your mortgage is competitive; consult best buy tables on sites like Motley Fool mortgages and consider what sort of deal would work best for you given the likelihood of impending rate cuts – tracker mortgages have had a surge in popularity for just this reason but don’t necessarily rule out fixed rate mortgages – there are some competitive deals out there at the moment and a fixed deal will always offer a degree of added security.