Britain's best known and biggest buy-to-let landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, are selling their entire portfolio of some 950 homes in the south east of England, in a deal likely to net them an estimated £100m.
The Wilsons told The Guardian newspaper overnight that the value of their portfolio had now exceeded the value it had in the pre-downturn period of 2007.
"We are selling up the whole lot! The market has recovered and passed the 2007 level. Who to An intermediary is handling it. Is it China Money, Indian Money, Saudi Money We will see. I am sure there will be much interest Fergus Wilson told the paper.
The Wilsons say existing tenants will be protected, with their rental contracts switched to the company or landlord that buys the portfolio.
The homes owned by the couple are mostly in Ashford and Maidstone. Houses on the Park Farm estate in Ashford, where the Wilsons own scores of two- and three-bed properties, have jumped in value from a 2009 low of £150,000 to around £185,000, according to local estate agents Gould Harrison.
The Guardian claims that rents have also jumped from around £725 for a two bedroom property six years ago to almost £1,000 now.
The paper says that the couple did not disclose the price they are expecting to obtain, nor the mortgage debt attached to them.
In 2010, he said the difference between his borrowing and the value of his properties was then around £180m, although it was as high as £225m."
The couple have sold some of their properties off in the past two years.
Comments
I'm somehow not so surprised by the rent jump.
Smart move on their part and who knows, maybe some foreign investment will inject some more money back into our economy!