Is Property Still Worth It? My Honest Answer After 335 Episodes...

In today’s episode, I’m tackling the question everyone is asking right now: is it still worth investing in property? With rising costs, tighter lending, more competition and a general sense of uncertainty, it’s no surprise that so many investors are wobbling. Instead of giving you a polished answer, I’m breaking down what’s actually happening, what matters, and why the fundamentals still hold strong.

We’ll talk honestly about the challenges in today’s market, the pressure on deals, the realities of operating HMOs right now, and why this period is shaping the next generation of real operators. If you’ve been second-guessing your strategy, this will help steady the ship.

🎯 What You’ll Learn

• Why so many investors are questioning property and what’s driving the wobble
• How higher interest rates, rising refurb costs and tighter lending affect deal performance
• The impact of increased competition and compliance in the HMO sector
• Why tough markets aren’t new and how experienced investors view them
• The long-term fundamentals that still make property a strong investment
• The mindset needed to navigate a challenging environment and stay in the game

If the current market feels tough, you’re not alone. This episode will bring clarity, calm, and a long-term perspective when you need it most.

If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe and drop a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - it helps more investors find the show!

💻Resources & Mentions

• 1-2-1 Mentorship: Ready to take things to the next level? Email andy@thehmoroadmap.co.uk
• The HMO Roadmap: Feeling overwhelmed? Access 400+ tools, templates, and lessons to help you start, scale, and systemise your HMO business - all in one place. Join here.
• Facebook Community: Got questions or need support? Come and connect with 10,000+ investors inside The HMO Community here.
• Social: Follow me on Instagram for daily HMO tips, advice, and behind-the-scenes updates here.

Transcript

Andy Graham (00:02.67)

Hey, I'm Andy and you're listening to the HMO Podcast. Over 10 years ago, I set myself the challenge of building my own property portfolio. And what began as a short-term investment plan soon became a long-term commitment to change the way young people live together. I've now built several successful businesses. I've raised millions of pounds of investment and I've managed thousands of tenants. Join me and some very special guests to discover the tips, tricks and hacks, the ups and the downs, the best practice and everything else you need to know to start, scale and systemise your very own HMO portfolio now.

Andy Graham (00:40.718)

There's one question that is coming up more and more and more right now than ever before. It is a question I've been asked since I started investing in property. I'm hearing it more from experienced investors now. I'm certainly hearing it from new investors. I'm hearing it from people that don't directly invest in property but provide services around property. My clients are asking this. I'm seeing it in the community. I'm getting DMs about this. I'm even being asked this question by people that don't invest in property but are interested in people like you and I that do invest in property.

And of course that question is whether or not it is still worth investing in property. And look, I get why people are asking this. The market does feel heavier. It has certainly felt more unpredictable for a long time. The general mood has shifted and it's very easy to start doubting your decisions and your strategy when it feels like this and people are talking like this. 

So in today's episode, I want to help you cut through the noise. I want to help you make sense of what is really going on. What matters? What doesn't matter? I want to help you think clearly in a moment and a market where people are certainly wobbling. By the end of today's episode you should feel clearer and calmer and much more grounded in your direction. But I'm going to be honest with you and I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. So if you want to find out whether I think it's still worth investing in property or if we should be looking at putting our money and time elsewhere then make sure you stick around. Let's get into it.

Hey guys, it's Andy here. We're going to be getting back to the podcast in just a moment, but before we do, I want to tell you very quickly about the HMO roadmap. Now, if you're serious about replacing your income, or perhaps you've already got a HMO portfolio that you want to scale up, then the HMO roadmap really is your one-stop shop. Inside the roadmap, you'll find a full 60 lesson course delivered by me, teaching you how to find more deals, how to fund more deals and raise private finance, how to refurbish great properties, how to fill them with great tenants that stay for longer, and how to manage your properties and tenants for the future. 

We've also got guest workshops added every single month. We've got new videos added every single week about all sorts of topics. We've got downloadable resources, cheat sheets and swipe files to help you. We've got case studies from guests and community members who are doing incredible projects that you can learn from. And we've also built an application just for you that allows you to appraise and evaluate your deals, stack them side by side and track the key metrics that are most important to you.

Andy Graham (03:01.74)

To find out more, head to theHMOroadmap.co.uk now and come and join our incredible community of HMO property investors.

Andy Graham (03:17.006)

Ok welcome back, if you're new to the show, then of course welcome. This is where we talk honestly about what it actually takes to build and run a proper HMO business in the UK. The decisions, the mistakes, the opportunities, the reality behind it all. If you are a regular listener, then welcome back. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you show up week in, week out. Your messages, your progress, your feedback, your support, your ears. It means the world to me. So thank you so much. It is honestly what keeps the show going.

Now today I want to answer the question, is it still worth investing in property? Now, as I said in the intro, I get why people are asking this question and it's one of those funny questions that I've honestly been asked since I started 15 years ago and I'm pretty sure people had been asking it 15 years before that and probably 15 years before that. You never really know that you're in the good times until you're not in the good times. And there's something quite ironic about that.

But look, before we answer this question, is it still worth investing in property? We need to be clear about a few things, right? The environment that we're all operating in. I said I wasn't going to sugar coat it and I'm not. There are challenges. The general uncertainty has been significant, right? Not just recently, not just budget uncertainty, uncertainty going back to kind pre-pandemic days. We've had five, six years of general uncertainty. Confidence has just been softer across the board. It's made it difficult to predict.

Difficult for us to predict, difficult for value us to predict. There's a lot of long range arse covering syndrome going on. We've been seeing that for years. Lenders are just picky, they're pessimistic and that nervousness and that sort conservative approach just slows things down and it frustrates everybody and it makes everybody nervous and it affects everybody through the whole system. There are some other things as well and I'm going to list them for you and I'm sure that you'll be able to resonate with a lot of this but...

Let's just talk about the increased competition as an operator in the sector. And even if you're not in the market right now, you can just look across social media and see within a matter of seconds, half a dozen really incredible top spec like super amazing examples of HMO properties being done by people all over the country. And if you are operating, you will know that if you've been doing it long enough, the competition has certainly increased. There are more operators, the standards are

Andy Graham (05:38.808)

far higher tenants have more choice of better accommodation. The bar has just quite simply moved and honestly, that's not a bad thing, but it definitely is a real thing. It's regional. So it's more prevalent and it's more of a consideration in some areas of the country than others, but it is definitely part of it. And the days of being able to just do what you want and your tenants will be happy and they'll pay the rent and you'll make loads and loads of money. They've gone. When disappeared a long, long time ago, we're certainly beyond that.

And the increased competition is a part of that. Let's talk about interest rates. This alone has changed how deals perform on paper, right? We are in a higher interest rate environment. I'm reluctant to say high interest environment because you don't even need to look back that far to see what a high interest environment really does look like. But look, we are in a higher interest rate environment that we had been used to for quite some time, like a good 10 years. And the cost of holding property is simply more expensive today. That has washed through its very, very black and white, it's binary, you just see it on the P&L, you see it on the appraisal template. It costs more money to borrow and that washes out in your deal and it just appears in the form of reduced profitability. It's really that simple. 

Let's talk about costs. Refurb costs are up. Material costs is up, labor costs is up. Energies, utilities, everything is just up. Inflation has pushed everything up to a place where none of us particularly enjoy getting a bill, getting an invoice, do we? Even small jobs feel quite big now. And money just doesn't go anywhere near as far and it hasn't quite kept up in terms of rents. Big jobs feel enormous right now. And yeah, I know we go down the shop and Freddo costs what a Freddo costs now, just a small shopping trip for like one or two days worth of food. It's very, very expensive, but across the board costs are certainly up. 

And again, just impacts us directly. It lands on the spreadsheet on the P&L and it comes through as reduced profitability. Something that a number of people have been experiencing more so this year and that has been gradually an upward trajectory. What's concerning is that more contractors are under pressure, more of them are going under. So there is more mid-risk, more kind of mid-project risk. And that's a really kind of concerning element. You've got to be especially careful. You've got to be very selective and really, really well protected and have contingencies. But this is a very real factor. Now,

Andy Graham (08:03.126)

On smaller projects, working with smaller contracting outfits, it's probably less of a concern because there's a greater pool to select from, but mid to larger projects, if you're doing certainly commercial to residential projects, anything, some sort of six flats upwards, you need a decent contracting outfit. When you're into the sort of the seven figure refurbs and developments, then those risks are certainly much bigger. If the contractor fails on you for whatever reason, finding a replacement is always going to be exceptionally difficult and it's likely to be very, very expensive. It's likely to delay you. So contract risk is a very real thing. 

Compliance is tightening. Fire regs, health and safety regs, licensing, documentation. The renter's rights act has come in. There's a lot more compliance in there. Article four directions, they're spreading. There are more of them sitting alongside compliance. It's limiting where we can convert properties into HMOs. It just raises the barrier to entry for new stock. So that combination, just more compliance, more planning, more tightening, more restrictions, it is making it more difficult for us. Of course, that washes through as something that takes more time and it definitely costs more money. And of course, look, just to summarize a lot of this, but short-term returns just simply are not as attractive as they once were. You can feel that shift. You can see that shift. It's very, very tangible. 

Deals that stacked once upon a time quite easily don't now, or they certainly don't to the same extent. You've got to have better execution and you've to be much more creative. And I think that that is certainly one of the things that a lot of people are struggling with. A lot of the experienced investors had got very familiar with the idea, very comfortable with the idea that you don't have to do a huge amount to get pretty good returns. That's changed. You've got to work a lot harder. That environment has been much more competitive recently and not everyone is as creative and that can be a challenge.

So yes, there are certainly headwinds, but let's be clear. Headwinds don't mean that the model is broken, right? Headwinds are actually pretty normal. They've always been there, not just in property, but in generally speaking in business and from an economic perspective, they've almost always been there. Yes, there are peaks and troughs. Yes, we're probably seeing more ingredients combining at the same time to create additional pressures. And yes, I think we've probably seen prolonged periods of uncertainty and that makes it very, very difficult in its own right. But

Andy Graham (10:28.62)

Headwinds are nothing new. These challenges, all of them independently, they are certainly nothing new. If you know anybody who's invested for sort of over 15, 20 years, then they will certainly be able to share experiences with you of all of this stuff and worse. So everything we're experienced all of it is quite simply part and parcel of being a property investor. And that is really, really important to say. This industry investing in property, it's never been smooth sailing. It's never been predictable. It's never ever, ever been effortless. There may have been a time when they were doing sort of 110, 120, 150% mortgages and you could refinance overnight. That does sound easier, but look, a lot of people lost their shirts as a result of that, didn't they? But interest costs, they go up and down markets. They shift, they cycle. Regulation tightens, it relaxes, it tightens again. I think we're going to see a big relaxation of regs as almost inevitably there's a change in government in the next few years, contractors, come and go, returns fluctuate. This isn't really a sign that property no longer works guys. This is just how property has always worked. And honestly, this is where you earn your stripes, right? This is where proper operators are made. This is where you build resilience. This is where all of your experience and all of your efforts and all of your work, it's where it compounds. And that's really, really, really important. 

And if I'm honest, brutally honest, a lot of people won't want to hear this. But it's true. If this puts you off, these things, if these challenges put you off, if they're hard to deal with, if they're too hard to deal with, that is a pretty good indicator that property is quite simply not for you. It's not your bag and you probably shouldn't be in this game. And that's okay. But if you can push through this, if you can tolerate all of this stuff, if you can actually find some sort of sadistic enjoyment in it. And I do, the challenges, I do love and I thrive on the challenges, don't get me wrong, I wish some of the challenges didn't exist, but it wouldn't be enjoyable for me and it wouldn't be rewarding the process if it wasn't challenging. And I mean that hand on heart, honestly, genuinely, if it was easy, I wouldn't get anywhere near the same degree of enjoyment from it. I like the fact that it's challenging. I like the fact that it's hard. I like the fact that everybody can't do it. I like the fact that if you do it and you do it really well, people are impressed and the rewards are there. And I've really enjoyed that about property, but if...

Andy Graham (12:53.186)

You don't and you can't stomach it and it gives you sleepless nights and the balance is just shifted too far in one direction then it may not be for you and it's okay but it's worth acknowledging now and I want to be super honest about this but it isn't new. This stuff has always existed. It isn't new. Just because we've seen people make money in property doesn't mean it has been easy to make money in property. 

So look you're not alone. If you are dealing with this stuff, these challenges, these pressures, if you are having the odd sleepless night, if you are having difficulty with contracts, if you are having difficulty with valuers and the banks and everything else and tenants, you're not behind, you're not messing up. I can assure you that you are not the only one finding this tough at the minute. Whether you've got one HMO or even no HMOs or a hundred HMOs, everybody's navigating the same landscape and the same challenges. I had a really interesting conversation just a couple of weeks ago with somebody.

Who's based very near to me. He's a home builder, very, very, very successful man. And he operates at a very different level, largely in the private equity space, huge, huge amounts of money, very, very, very large deals. And what he said echoed exactly what people doing their first one or two deals are saying. It's all relative, but the same challenges exist. It's just affecting us all in our own ways but it's very very real and it's the same for all of us. 

It's not just your problem then it is a market problem and these shared moments I think are really important and they can be really really powerful and that's why I wanted to do this episode today because I hope and I think that it just helps provide a little bit of comfort. It gives you I think just a kind of an honest moment of reflection, just a reminder that it's okay. It's not just you. You're not doing anything wrong. We're all kind of experiencing it. Everything feels a little bit, if we know that we're not the only one right. But look, ultimately the fundamentals haven't changed. This is the bit that I think a lot of people have completely forgotten, especially when they're feeling very stressed. The fundamentals of investing in property in the UK, quite simply they haven't changed. We still don't build enough homes as a nation. This 1.5 million homes target is complete nonsense. Even if planning was relaxed and there were enough developers to do it, there isn't

Andy Graham (15:15.318)

even enough bricks to actually deliver the homes materials aren't even there. So it is a complete fabrication. So irrespective of the headlines 1.5 million homes are not getting built over the next however many years. So the demand for housing will continue to outstrip supply. Affordability issues still continue to push people towards renting. It continues to push people who are renting towards HMOs. That sector continues to strengthen. Coliving is now more accepted than ever. In fact, in many areas, in many places, it's becoming pretty cool to live in HMOs, pretty cool to live in purpose-built co-living developments. The population of the UK certainly isn't going down. It might be aging, but there might be an opportunity there. 

And look, long-term performance is still exceptional. Now we can only look back on the data to come to that conclusion, but if you go and you look at every possible prediction that you can from the, and I say this in inverted commas, experts and combine that with all of the historic data, you'd be pretty hard pressed to construct an argument to say that long term and when we say long term, I'm talking 15, 20, 30 years long term that property wasn't going to outperform many asset classes. And these are the foundations guys. Look, these are the things that really, really matter and they are all still intact. None of that has changed whatsoever. And you don't build a strategy around short term noise.

You build it around long-term fundamentals, especially when it's as hard to get into the market as property, especially when it's as expensive and the frictional costs are as they are in property. You can't just get in and get out of this market quickly. You've got to be in it and you've got to be prepared to stay in it. So remember that stuff. If you're finding it difficult, remember that these fundamentals are still there. And if you've got that long-term view and that long-term approach and you're okay with the fact that yeah, short-term rewards are probably not quite as good as maybe had you bought the same deal 10, 15, 20 years ago. 

But if you're okay with that, and I certainly am, and the people I work with and my clients, they certainly are, if you're okay with that, then you will be absolutely fine. So is property still worth it? Well, look, here's the honest answer. In the short term, returns are not what they used to be, but long term property still looks incredible to me and incredible to most people. And if you choose your deals well, if you operate well,

Andy Graham (17:37.39)

If you really focus on management, you really focus on systems and processes and procedures, if you integrate AI and all of the right stuff that gives you your time back so you're not a slave to running your portfolio. And if you just stay in the game, if you get over these hurdles, if you can just make it through these difficult times, if you can wake up, do the same thing again, as difficult as it might be, if you could just find a way, if you could put the contingencies in place, if you can just keep hold of that bit of money that you borrowed for a little bit longer and you've got a really good mutual agreement with someone to do that. If you can get through it all, it will be okay. 

And seriously, it's worth thinking about what else you might do with your money if you didn't put it into property. Where would you leave it that inflation wasn't just going to eat away at it? Would you ride the stock market, which is a bit of a roller coaster at the minute. And look, this is certainly not financial advice, but the stock market is certainly not predictable. Crypto less so. Would you jump between other TikTok investments, gold, other things that you can put your money in. It's very, very difficult to say, but long term, I think it's really quite easy to say that property looks good. 

Now I think the budget was quite interesting for a number of reasons. I reflected on my thoughts last week and I'm not going to go into it now, but the one thing that I think it really did do again was just reiterate the importance of not having all of your eggs in one basket. And if that basket was a job where you are paid by an employer, you're taxed at source and the government can meddle with that pension that you're slowly accruing. If your employer could just get rid of you because business and things get tough and you've got to go because there just simply isn't justification for your role or they quite simply can't afford to keep you. All of that stuff and for so many other reasons, I would just prefer to have my money in bricks and mortar. 

I trust in the fact that we're not building enough homes. There are more people who need good quality accommodation. There are more people leaving the market and more people than ever who aren't able to keep up with the market and what the market is demanding. I see all of that as huge opportunity. So my opinion, own an asset, generate an income, leverage it, benefit from the long term growth, put it on autopilot as much as possible and maintain control. Yes, they might come and tax you a little bit more. Yes.

Andy Graham (19:57.25)

They might want to take a bit more at the end when you come to sell it one day, who knows, but I wouldn't make too many decisions based on all the things that we don't know. I would base your decisions on the things that we do know, the real fundamentals here. So for me, yes, property is still 100% absolutely worth it. Even if short term, it's not quite as juicy as it used to be, but it rewards the patient, the prepared.

In my opinion now more so than ever the professional so property isn't dead. It's just not easy, but it never was and that's okay. So look guys, there you have it short and sweet today. The honest answer to the question that so many people have been asking and wrestling with and I did a talk recently and while my talk wasn't specifically on this subject, there was some elements of that in there and about a dozen people came to me afterwards and messaged me afterwards just to say how much they needed to hear this.

Right now, look property is still one of the smartest places that you can put your money. I hope today's episode has helped you if it has please send me a message. Please let me know how you're thinking about this. Share your thoughts in the HMO community as well. It's a great place to find guidance and advice and support and of course we're biased but there's so much experience in there it really is a great place to find a shoulder to cry on and just find that bit of support guidance that you might need a steer. If you know anyone who's wobbling anyone who's anxious worrying, who wanted to get into the market but is too concerned about what it might look like now, please send this episode to them. Please just let them listen to this. It might just change the way they think about property. It might be exactly what they need to hear. 

That's it for today's episode guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope you found it useful. I said, I hope it has offered you a little bit of reassurance during a time that has certainly been difficult to say the least. If you are investing in HMOs, head on over to the HMOroadmap.co.uk.

Of course, that's where you'll find everything you need to start, scale and systemise your HMO property business. But if 2026 is your year, I want to just put something on your radar right now. As you know, I work with a very small number of people on a very private and bespoke and tailored basis. My one to one mentorship program has been hugely successful. A number of the people I've worked with have gone on to win industry awards, property investors of the year.

Andy Graham (22:22.254)

HMO investors of the year, deals of the year, all sorts of things. If 2026 is the year that you really want to level things up, if you want to 10x your results and do it in a 10th of the time, if you don't want to make the mistakes, if you don't want to spend the money on the mistakes, if you want to maximize your investments and you want to do it through the vehicle of HMOs, then I am opening up a number of spaces, but I am starting to fill those spaces this side of the new year. If you want to find out more, just drop me an email to andy@thehmoroadmap.co.uk

Like I said I've only got a very small number of spaces available. I'll be happy to get on the call with you and talk to you about how I can potentially help you and what it is that you're probably not doing that you should be doing. But trust me a lot of what you're finding difficult now can be made so much easier with a small number of tweaks to your business. And I know that because I'm doing it myself and my clients are as well. Again, that's andy@thehmoroadmap.co.uk. Just drop me an email now. We can book a call and we can go from there. 

That's it guys. Thank you again for tuning in and don't forget that I'll be right back here in the very same place next week. So please join me then for another installment of the HMO podcast.