As well known buy-to-let tycoons Fergus and Judith Wilson sell up, we ask: “Has the British property market peaked?”
Known as “Baron and Baroness Buy-to-Let”, Fergus and Judith Wilson were the kind of role models those who watch daytime shows such as Homes Under the Hammer aspired to be. With this week’s announcement that they’re selling their 900-house portfolio, could this be indication that the property market has reached its peak?
Former maths teachers, Mr and Mrs Wilson – who live modestly and drive a secondhand Land Rover – began buying when house prices were low in the early 1990s. Their portfolio is primarily of new-build 2 and 3 bedroomed properties and in the main they are located in Ashford and Maidstone in Kent.
This duo regarded their “sprawling fiefdom” in the M20 corridor as their “babies” and of selling, Judith Wilson commented: “I’ll miss them terribly when they go”. Said to be “dogged by complaining tenants and court cases (Mr Wilson, a 22-stone former boxer, was convicted of assaulting one of his former letting agents)”, they are asking between £230 and £250 million for the combined market value of their houses.
Said to be selling because Fergus Wilson is “not in the best of health” and as their daughters don’t want the “hassle” of owning the properties, this couple look set to make £90 million after paying off outstanding mortgages and the taxman.
Could there be more to this story? We think so. As one of our contributors, a respected financier, has previously predicted, the property market has most definitely peaked. Fergus and Judith Wilson could be getting out at just the right time.
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