Assetz® News - Paying the flat rate

Paying the flat rate

3rd June 2008 |

Anybody who has spent time in a major British city outside London, particularly those of northern England, will have seen plenty of new buildings appearing in recent years. This may partly be a wider expression of the general economic growth and their part in it, but also of the growing phenomenon of city living.

Today, both in Manchester and Leeds, the tallest buildings are at least partially residential. In the former, the city centre residential population has gone from a few hundred in the early 1990s to over 20,000 now. Furthermore, new apartment blocks are still being built, not just in the city centre but in surrounding areas as well.

Such projects were commissioned in the recent past, when the property boom was still continuing apace and the potential value of an investment in a city centre flat was high. Subsequently, as the credit crunch struck, all the talk was of how oversupply had set in and prices for apartments were falling.

Yet for investors looking at this sector now, it may be important to check exactly what the situation may be in different parts of the country. Yesterday new homes firm Smartnewhomes.com said that new build apartments in the south-east region were bouncing back, unlike their all too plentiful northern counterparts.

David Bexon, the managing director of the firm, commented: "Apartments still remain a popular home choice in some regions, as indicated by increased demand and strong prices in the South East. However, current issues of oversupply in some northern locations have led to a dip in prices in these areas over the short term."

He predicted that this would change as mortgage conditions improve, allowing apartments to do better everywhere, but the synopsis Mr Bexon offered would suggest that for now the south-east is a good place to invest in apartments, even if nowhere else.

In the north, prices are indeed dropping. In one of the latest northern project to be completed, the Beehive mixed-use development in Bradford's Learning Quarter, the firm behind the scheme, McGinnis Developments, has set the prices of some of the 185 available units as low as £55,000 for a studio apartment, the Business Desk reports.

Stating that these were the lowest home prices available anywhere in Yorkshire since 2001, the company's development director John Paul McGinnis acknowledged that they were determined by an "ever-tightening market".

As a result, the firm has announced that it was looking to provide "much-needed affordability", adding: "We want The Beehive to be successful and we believe, with the pricing structure we have announced, there will be a lot of interest from owner-occupiers looking for a stylish home while studying and for local people to get their first affordable foot on the property ladder."

So while McGinnis prices the Beehive low to achieve sales, investors must decide whether such properties could rise in value as Mr Bexon suggests, or whether they will remain comparatively cheap. Part of the answer in Bradford may be how it, along with other cities, comes through any coming economic storm.

Then, of course, there is London. Arsenal Football Club may not be everyone's idea of a landlord, but, the Times reports, it took the decision to develop its old Highbury Stadium as flats when it moved home to the Emirates Stadium two years ago. In theory, location was no problem as Highbury is in a densely populated area with easy access to central London via Arsenal tube station on the Piccadilly Line.

As it happens, the report noted, all but two of the 600 apartments varying in price between £250,000 and £1.5 million have been sold as just two buyers have walked away. Moreover, a club spokesman has said no problems are expected when more apartments are completed - and final payments due - in August. On this evidence it would appear that, so far at least, well-located apartments in London are continuing to attract a healthy level of demand. But investors may need top keep a close eye on trends in the months ahead.