How do you gauge the stupidity of people? The link is at the bottom but let me rant first.

Gillingham is a small town (Pop. c15000) the nearest large cities are Bristol and Bournemouth both well over an hour away by car. There are Salisbury and Yeovil, 40 mins by car and 30 by train.
It does have a Waitrose and Somerfield and that is it other than local shops the vast majority of which are EAs and charity shops.
There are only two major employers in town which between them account for c500 jobs. And this development overlooks the estate that both companies are sited on (not shown in RMs pictures but can be seen from Google map)

Read the BS below

"Nexus reflects a fresh, contemporary step forward for apartments in Gillingham. A bold departure from its surroundings, proposing to offer a standard and style of living never before available in this popular bustling town. Realised with stunning architectural flair and cutting edge interior design the apartments at Nexus have been specified to create a truly unique interior and contemporary living environment in Gillingham. Few properties embody a uniqueness of architectural form more dramatically than Nexus. A landmark building for Gillingham, this totally unique development of twenty 1 and 2 bedroom apartments has been built and specified to provide the ultimate modern lifestyle for those living in this beautiful part of North Dorset. Situated just ten minutes walk from the railway station and fifteen minutes from the town centre, Nexus is ideally located for shopping, the leisure centre and other comprehensive amenities Gillingham has to offer."

"A bold departure from its surroundings."
Read, sticks out like a bulldogs Bo**ocks.
"Realised with stunning architectural flair."
Judge for yourselves.
"A landmark building for Gillingham."
So much so its stuck out on the edge of town oposite an industrial estate.
"Nexus is ideally located for shopping."
Point conceded.
",the leisure centre and other comprehensive amenities"
The liesure center is due to close, before it collapses. And there is next to nothing else there.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-172...=1&tr_t=buy

Yes thats right £174,995 for a 2 bed flat in the **** end of nowhere. Looking at nethouseprices only 9 of the 20 sold and these were all in August 2007, link below.
http://www.nethouseprices.com/index.php?co...mp;pcsaCode=SP8
Now, it looks to me these all completed in August and were probably bought off plan (BTL?) the highest price achieved for any of them was £156,995. It also looks like two block sales.
I work on the estate oposite and have never seen any lights on in the properties you can see from the road so I would imagine they are mostly vacant.

Any guesses on what they will be worth this time next year? I'm going for £60,000 for the 1 beds and £80,000 for the 2 beds. FFS these are starter holmes in a town where the average wage cannot be over £18,000.

Fistly they'd have to be that price for any FTBer to get a mortgage on them and secondly the rental market does not suppert the kind of rents that would have to be charged to make them a viable BTL 'investment' (as you can forget capital growth for the next 10 years). I live in a huge 3 bed flat in the town center and pay £500 a month in rent, I will not be paying the 'upwards of £575' that they are asking.

I'll have to stop now, me blood pressure is rocketing.

Damo

Nice posting full of detail, and with an admirable seasoning of outrage. Pity about that leisure centre. When the flats get down to 80 grand let us know!

Cheers mate, more theropy than expecitng a reply, just good to get these things off your chest.

By the way, still overpriced in my opinion, this is the competition. You could fit the Nexus 'Luxury' appartment into the lounge of this one.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-191...=2&tr_t=buy

Also has ensuit and doesn't overlook an industrial estate.

Damo

We're looking in the area for our next home (downsized from London). Liked Shaftesbury (but WINDY!!), however, Gillingham struck us as a hole useful only for having a rail station.

thats not too far from the truth, Shaftesbury is not too bad but whatever the weather it is always worse up there. Have you looked at Sherbourne nicer imo but it's a bit more expensive though.

Damo

I'm so glad I found this thread and it's not just me who finds this Nexus development a laugh. The only good things about Gillingham are Waitrose and proximity to the A303. It is North Dorset's housing stock dumping ground, but then another 700+ houses are now earmarked for Shaftesbury too.

"We're looking in the area for our next home (downsized from London). Liked Shaftesbury (but WINDY!!), however, Gillingham struck us as a hole useful only for having a rail station."
Hi cartimandua51 - it's much smaller than Gillingham and Shaftesbury, but have you considered Tisbury? Main line station to London, and it's been compared by friends who have moved there from London to Trumpton (as in Hugh, Hugh, Barley, McGrew etc). Too small for some but others like it.

Not followed this one for a wihile but have been doing some digging around on the land reg. for sales it the SP8 post code check these out.

Month, yerar, Volume, Value
November, 2006, 39, 7850260
December, 2006, 53, 10083142
January, 2007, 41, 7875750
February, 2007, 29, 5786100
March, 2007, 31, 5553350
April, 2007, 57, 11825050
May, 2007, 42, 9147295
June, 2007, 28, 5605400
July, 2007, 46, 12196150
August, 2007, 56, 11098409
September, 2007, 33, 6626950
October, 2007, 33, 7196949
November, 2007, 32, 8218879
December, 2007, 19, 3726500
January, 2008, 10, 2098000

November volumes, YoY, down 20%
December volumes, YoY, down 67%
January volume, YoY, down 76%

Spotting a trend yet? Havn't really seen any big price drops as yet but with these kind of volume you can bet your life the EAs will be putting the pressure on.

Damo

February numbers in

Month, yerar, Volume, Value
November, 2006, 39, 7850260
December, 2006, 53, 10083142
January, 2007, 41, 7875750
February, 2007, 29, 5786100
March, 2007, 31, 5553350
April, 2007, 57, 11825050
May, 2007, 42, 9147295
June, 2007, 28, 5605400
July, 2007, 46, 12196150
August, 2007, 56, 11098409
September, 2007, 33, 6626950
October, 2007, 33, 7196949
November, 2007, 32, 8218879
December, 2007, 19, 3726500
January, 2008, 10, 2098000
February, 2008, 3, 557000

November volumes, YoY, down 20%
December volumes, YoY, down 67%
January volume, YoY, down 76%
February volumes, YoY, down 90%

TBH there isn't much lower it can go, due to the low sales volumes average sale prices are near meaningless. EA must be pushing like mad for reductions now though.
Damo
Edit spelling

Just to add that there are at least 8 EAs in Gillingham.

Dec-Feb 07 - 123 sales - totaling - £23,744,992

Dec-Feb 08 - 32 sales - totaling - £6,381,500

Now the SP8 post code covers a large area and there are similar numbers of EAs in the surrounding (I've spent half an hour searching rightmove and most of the non-SP8 locations are covered by EAs from other towns such as Wincanton, Shaftesbury, Salisbury, Sturminster Newton and Blandford).

Assuming a commision of 2% that would give £128,000 divided up amongst the 8 - £16,000 each or £5,300 Per month.

Dpropping from £19,800 Per month for the same three months last year.

Now the maths needs checking and the raw data is not perfect but the overall picture is EA earnings down 73% on last year.

Damo