Colchester · CO4 6EJ · 4-bed
Sapphire Crescent, Colchester, Essex, CO4
© OpenStreetMap · click to open in maps
Asking price
£475,000
EPC B
Verdict
Looks fair for the area
What you could do with it
Estimated gross yields from current rental comps. Numbers are pre-cost — service, voids, mortgage, management still come off these.
Standard BTL
£1,800/mo
4.5% gross yield
Open-market tenant on a 12-month AST.
HMO (rooms)
Best fit£3,209/mo
8.1% gross yield
4–6 individual tenants, shared living. Highest yield, most management.
LHA / Section 8
£1,097/mo
2.8% gross yield
Council-paid tenant. Stable rent, longer tenancies, slight discount to market.
Council lease
£932/mo
2.4% gross yield
3–5 yr guaranteed-rent lease to a housing association. Hands-off.
Who is this for?
Quick read across the buyer personas. ✅ = good fit · ⚠ = workable with caveats · ❌ = look elsewhere.
Family home
4-bed with EPC B — workable family setup.
Standard BTL
4.5% gross — tight; works only with low costs / cheap finance.
HMO (rooms)
8.1% HMO yield, no Article 4 — strong on paper.
Buy + rent later
Rent would cover most mortgage costs but you'd top up if it sat empty for a few months.
The numbers
England (SDLT) · 75% LTV mortgage at 5.5% over 25 years (capital repayment).
Stamp duty
First-time buyer
£2,500
Home mover
£11,250
2nd home / BTL
£35,000
Mortgage @ 75% LTV
- Loan
- £356,250
- Deposit
- £118,750
- Per month
- £2,188
Cash you'd need to walk in (deposit + investor SDLT, before legal/survey): £153,750
Should you pay this?
Asking price is in line with what 4-bed homes have been selling for nearby.
Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right.
What it'd rent for
£1,800/month4.55% gross yield
Based on 582 live rentals in Colchester · 4-bed homes here average £1,844/mo.
Most landlords need 5%+ gross to break even after costs in this area, so this is tight as a fallback — worth running the numbers carefully.
Property features
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Loading nearby sold…
5-year price trend
Crime risk
Flood risk
Schools & Ofsted
No schools indexed yet for this postcode sector. The official sources below cover every UK postcode.
Catchments aren't published nationally; many schools use distance-from-school as the deciding factor. The links above give you the official data — only the local authority can confirm a specific year's catchment boundary.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
HMO licensing
£825 – £1,500typical UK HMO fee, 5-year licence
4-bed property. Mandatory licensing kicks in at 5+ unrelated occupants. Below that, a licence is only required if the council runs an additional or selective scheme — the link below is the way to check.
The council's HMO page lists the current mandatory fee plus any additional / selective scheme that catches smaller HMOs.
Find borough HMO licensing page on gov.ukMandatory licensing applies UK-wide for 5+ sharer HMOs (Housing Act 2004). Scotland licenses 3+ sharers; Wales also requires Rent Smart Wales registration for every landlord.
Area pulse
- 11,398 new listings here in the last month — good comparable supply.
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