Looking back at the 75thAnniversary of the D-Day landing a few months ago, it reminded me of the huge changes that have happened to Peterborough and more specifically the Peterborough property market since WW2. Back in 1946, the average wage in Peterborough was just over £5 a week and to buy an average car would cost you just under £600, yet this is a property blog, so⦠The average value of a Peterborough property in 1946 was £936 In fact, in those 75 years, the average Peterborough house had doubled in price by 1961, then again in 1971, 1975, 1980, 1988, 2000 and 2006. Now a lot of those increases (especially in the 1970âs) were caused by hyperinflation, yet since the start of the 21stCentury inflation has been kept low and since the Credit Crunch (2008/9), whilst property values have been rising, they havenât been at the rates experienced in the latter half of the 20thCentury. Now what a property sells for is irrelevant, its whether someone can afford it. Increases in Peterborough property values have produced huge increases in equity for many Peterborough homeowners and Peterborough buy to let landlords, yet on the other side of the coin also making housing unaffordable for other people. The best measure of the affordability of housing is the ratio of Peterborough property values to Peterborough average earnings (i.e. salary/wages). The ratio works on the basis the higher the ratio, the less affordable properties are. In 1997, the average value of a Peterborough property was 2.8 times higher than the average annual wage in Peterborough, in 2007 it peaked at 6 and over the next five years it dropped as low as 5. Since then it has slowly risen to 6.8 times higher! It can be seen that even though property in Peterborough became more affordable after the 2007/8 property crash (i.e. the ratio dropped), in subsequent years, with house values rising but earnings/salaries not keeping up, the ratio started to rise. This has meant there has been a decline in affordability of property in Peterborough over the last five years â so for those on particularly low incomes or with little capital, it unfortunately means that buying a Peterborough home will never become an option. Therefore, the demand for private rented properties in Peterborough will continue to grow as many young Peterborough people are deciding to rent instead of buy their own house (knowing when their parents pass away, the equity built up in their parents property will be passed down â and then they can buy in their 50âs and 60âs â just like it happens in Germany). Yet, that is many decades away and with fewer Peterborough people wanting or able to save up the 5% deposit required by mortgage lenders, more and more people are looking to rent. Tie this in with the subtle shift in attitudes towards renting since the Millennium and less people jumping the on the bottom rung of the property ladder, this has driven rents and demand up in Peterborough over the last few years. Yet (and itâs an important proviso) the type, location and demands of Peterborough tenants has changed over that same time frame meaning you canât just make money from buy to let as easily as falling off a log like you did in the early 2000âs. If you are an existing landlord with us (or even another agent in Peterborough) or someone thinking of becoming a first time Peterborough landlord looking for advice and opinion and what (ornot to buy in Peterborough), one source of information is the http://www.PeterboroughPropertyBlog.com â or drop me an email or phone call and letâs start a conversation â I donât bite and I donât do hard sell ⦠and maybe, just maybe, I could help you get better returns from your property portfolio.