Since 27 January 2022, the government stopped asking people to work from home due to the success of the booster programme in fighting the Omicron COVID-19 variant. This relaxing of home working guidance has led to more offices reopening and professionals returning to work in-person. And this will continue to happen in greater numbers as England has put forward its plan for living with COVID.
As personal and professional lives are getting back to more normality, rental demand has been on the rise in the professional HMO sector, especially in city centre locations. But it’s important to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered what professionals are looking for in their rental homes.
In this blog post, we’ll cover the benefits and challenges of investing in the professional HMO market, in addition to the top features, this tenant demographic is currently looking for.
Benefits of Investing in the Professional HMO Sector
Overall, the professional HMO sector comes with numerous benefits for both tenants and investors. It can be an incredibly powerful business model. If you create a high-quality HMO that provides features professionals are looking for, this will help you see even more success. To do this, make sure you keep up with the changing needs of professionals.
Additionally, if you own a student HMO and are struggling to fill the rooms, consider if the property would work for professionals. Maybe your property is in a location that has fallen out of favour with students. Professional tenants could work as an alternative, particularly as location preferences have changed for different demographics during COVID-19.
Challenges of Managing Professional HMOs
While there are a number of benefits that come with investing in the professional HMO sector, these properties are significantly more challenging to manage than student HMOs. For starters, professionals often have higher expectations. Because of this, it’s important to have a very strong property management service.
Additionally, as this tenant demographic is more transient, it can be difficult to maintain higher occupancy. Professional tenants are also on different tenancy agreements, as opposed to students who come and go as a group.
This means professional HMOs come with more paperwork and admin, and you’ll end up spending more time on managing relationships too. If you are planning on creating professional HMOs, be aware of the challenges that come with it and understand what’s all involved with owning a HMO in this sector.
What Do Professionals Want from Their Homes?
Moving forward, it will be particularly crucial for HMO investors to understand professionals’ changing needs and motivations and find the right HMOs to invest in. Adapting to these changes quickly can even help you stay ahead of your competition and allow your property to be in higher demand from prospective tenants
But you may be asking yourself what are professionals currently looking for in their homes? Here are a few of the top features we’ve found professionals are wanting in the properties they rent.
1. Dedicated Space for Home Working and High-Speed Internet
With the rise of hybrid working arrangements, this is becoming the norm for many professionals. These opportunities for remote working create the need for dedicated office space for tenants. You may even want to consider finding ways to adapt co-working spaces into professional HMO properties moving forward.
Working from home has also boosted the need for high-speed internet. Modern tenants won’t stand for slow connections any longer, as many of them will need to be able to easily work from home.
2. More Outdoor Space That’s Easy to Maintain
Since the UK-wide lockdowns during the pandemic, more tenants are looking for access to outdoor space. Rental properties with gardens are rising in demand. And as professionals are busy and transient, it’s important that these spaces are easy to maintain. This allows tenants to be able to enjoy garden space without having to stress about maintenance.
3. High-Quality Communal Spaces
As modern tenants are wanting more out of their properties, well-designed, high specification HMO properties can make your property stand out above the competition. Designing great communal spaces can create a better community feel. Breakfast bars and open-plan living space have been especially popular in a number of our recent projects.
It’s helpful to think about zoning the communal areas of a HMO and consider furniture layout from the get-go. We also often put vinyl decals and artwork on walls to improve our properties’ aesthetics. Little touches can make a big difference
4. Energy-Saving Solutions
Currently, energy bills and inflation are soaring, and some professionals aren’t seeing their wages keep up with these increases. Because of this, many tenants are looking for properties that are more energy-efficient and have lower energy bills. Energy-saving solutions in HMOs will be particularly important moving forward and could even increase demand for your rooms.
Tenant demands are often evolving, so being aware of the current market can help you make more informed decisions on your HMOs. And this can also help future proof your HMO portfolio as well.
The future of the professional HMO sector continues to look very bright. There’s an opportunity to create great quality housing that is in growing demand. For more helpful insights and updates on the HMO industry, become a member of The HMO Roadmap today!
About the Author:
Andy Graham is the founder and the lead trainer at The HMO Roadmap! He is also the co-founder of The HMO Mastermind and Smart Property, a specialist HMO property investment and management company. He writes as a regular columnist in different magazines about a variety of HMO topics and is the host of The HMO Podcast! Follow Andy on Instagram!