6.2.5 Housing as an investment
Throughout much of the 2000s, property was considered a serious alternative to other kinds of investment. Driven by the liberalised financial services sector, which made mortgages easy to obtain, and a boom in house prices, property was seen as a one-way bet. When property prices began to decline in 2008, investing in property for capital gain began to look like a more uncertain strategy.
This is not to say that you should overlook the investment in your own home. It’s easier to raise finance on the ‘primary residence’ than on second homes; there’s only one set of interest costs to worry about and there’s normally no liability for Capital Gains Tax on any profit made. The objective with your home (apart from having somewhere to live) would be to increase its capital value and so the equity in it. There are several ways in which that can happen over and above any general rise in property prices.
Homes can be bought in an ‘up and coming’ area where property prices will rise more than the average; they could be bought at below the ‘true’ market value; or someone can add value to a property by finding, for instance, a rundown home suitable for refurbishment and, when completed, sell at a profit over and above the total cost of the purchase, interest and refurbishment.
The video, from October 2013, explores the way in which the purchase of property as an investment has continued to be popular and to have a significant impact on property prices, particularly in areas like London.
Transcript
Another way to make money from a home is to rent out a spare room, effectively using the home as an income-producing asset. Some people carry these ideas substantially further and rent out several rooms, or regularly buy, develop and then sell individual properties. Doing either would move into the realms of trading, and as a result both Income Tax ‘Rent-a-Room’ relief and Capital Gains Tax exemptions would be lost.