Welcome to another monthly special, folks. In terms of the research question this month, I’m going to look at a 5+ year time horizon, all the way out to 30 years and beyond, which I think is the appropriate and correct time horizon for investing in property. There are shorter horizons - five minutes, for some property traders, but that is not investment - it is trading.

We need 5 years - at least - to effectively amortise the costs associated with buying a property - and the UK system still sets 5-year cycles as (currently) the most popular cycle to think in, if you are investing in property and using debt for leverage.

My personal viewpoint is that we need to be thinking more about 10 year cycles, so that we have a much lower chance of getting unlucky on entry or exit timing. Time is a fantastic healer, in property, as it is in life.

Also, let me say up front, I’m likely to cheat on the premise here. Income OR Capital Value Growth? Why is there an “OR”? In my view, this is one of the great misconceptions of property investment - that you have to choose one or the other.

I’m going to relive a great debate I’ve had, many times in many forms over the years. So, play along properly now - no cheating or glancing down the page.

I first did this piece of research in late 2016, when I was having a conversation with a potential investor. “What do you WANT?” I said to him, in my admittedly straightforward style. His reply was: “I want to replicate the returns my friends got in Islington buying flats there between 2011 and 2013.”