I was having a thought-provoking
conversation with a Southampton buy-to-let landlord a few weeks ago about
everything to do with property, Brexit and how the reported voluntary repatriation
of Eastern Europeans had affected the property market in Southampton. It transpired some of his Southampton tenants,
who had been in his property for over 10 years were returning to Poland. He was particularly disappointed as he told me
they were some of the best, if not the best, tenants he had ever had.
In 2004, eight Eastern
European countries joined the European Union and by 2015, EU net migration from
those Eastern European Accession states (also known as the EU8), there was a
net migration of an additional 42,000 EU8 adults per year coming into the UK, which
equated for our local area of Southampton an additional 429 adults per year
coming into the area in 2015 alone.
Yet by 2018, net migration had reversed and that
saw 153 more EU8 citizens leave than arrive to live in Southampton
… and in the last set of
figures released for the year up to the Summer of 2019, net EU8 migration for Southampton
was a net loss of 71 EU8 people for the year. These are not huge numbers, considering ..
EU8 citizens only make up 4.80% of the
population in Southampton
Yes, at the last
count there were 11,370 EU8 European citizens living in our local area out of a
population of 236,882.
Its fascinating
that 35.7% of the EU8 citizens that came across to the UK after 2004 were
degree level educated compared to the 3.18% of adult citizens born in the UK,
yet of all the EU8 citizens in the country, 65.9% of them are in private rented
accommodation, 9.6% in social housing and 24.5% are home owners.
It is certain that
migration of Eastern Europeans, especially in the early years of 2004 to 2010,
made a huge impact on the Southampton rental property market – yet as time has
gone on, families have started to put roots down and bring children into the
world. Southampton landlords buying all
the rental properties for this new demand meant house prices for homeowners
bounced back particular well after the global financial crisis / credit crunch
of 2008/9.
Again, looking at the figures, a good
proportion of EU8 citizens have become homeowners and even landlords.
Yes,
there is small number of Southampton EU8 citizens leaving as they have had the
dilemma on whether they should stay or go, and some families, using the wealth
that they have built up whilst working in the Country have returned to their
home country or other EU member states. Decisions like that are not easily made and often tainted with dejection and disappointment – yet again, looking at the numbers, this is very much the minority. As an agent, we are seeing European people (not just EU8 countries) come and European people go, and it was like that before 2016 and to answer the question ... we believe we have a case of ‘bad news’ selling newspapers yet again.
Of course if one of your star tenants leaves your Southampton rental property and then you read an article about mass migration in one of the red top newspapers or Daily Mail, it is going to worry you (like it did my Southampton landlord friend), yet with the information we shared with him – it has put his mind at rest (and the best part – we were able to find him a new tenant within the week – who ironically also came from Europe to live and work in the UK!).
To conclude, hopefully the end is in sight with Brexit, it would
be a huge loss for the Country to see its embedded and settled European
community depart as it must be quite melancholic for our fellow Europeans to
even have to deliberate such a life changing move. All I can say is I think we are all eagerly
anticipating the ‘B-word’ situation becoming stable again so that all of us,
wherever we originate from, can reasonably plan our future in our sceptered isle.
If you would like to pick my brains on the Southampton Property Market – pop in for a coffee or drop me a line on social media or email.
If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.
Email me on brian.linehan@belvoir.co.uk or call on 023 8001 8222.
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