West Yorkshire (leeds & North Yorkshire)

[sleepy]

I was at a wedding recently & got talking to a mortgage adviser for a large firm. Here are some of the interesting pearls he told me :

The central Leeds appartment market is 'fcuked' & prices are dropping. There are hundreds of empty flats & there is planning permission for 100,000 more ( yes one hundred thousand!! ) mainly around Wellington Street & East End Park.

Allegedly, one property developer is being investigated by 2 large property-related businesses for inflating the prices of flats by offering 'financial incentives' to surveyors. These flats would then be sold on to investors from the South who have no idea of the Central Leeds market & would think that the prices were still low ( although they may be double the 'going-rate' ). He mentioned that he knew of 40 repossesions in Aspect 14 in June alone!!! I have to say that I don't feel sorry for these greedy investors who felt that they could make a killing on these flats without doing any research. This being the case, it was alleged that if you went to a mortgage provider to buy a property that this firm had been involved with, the bank / building society would not give you a mortgage!!

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

& there is planning permission for 100,000 more

If things continue to pan out as they are, the majority of them will never get further than the planning stage.

[Si1]

Aspect 14 is an apartment complex in a really horrible council estate area just off the city centre. The walk in to town would force you to endure 1000 yards of crime ridden dereliction. When the local coucil flats in the area are going for half the rental price of the 'luxury apartments' of aspect 14, and with no waiting list, you know you're onto a loser. I would be sorely sorely surprised if I ever came across anyone from within 50 miles of Leeds who had been foolish enough to buy one of these flats in a tower block that is essentially competing with sink housing estates for occupancy, in a part of the country where there is no housing shortage.

[kunekune]

Bingley - good public transport links to Leeds, Bradford and Skipton, easy drive to Halifax. It's a funny place - the centre is a mess but prices are relatively high by local standards because of good schools, including an 'outstanding' secondary. I've been watching the market for about a year. The most expensive houses are sticky, and feature on Snake. One of the new developments is in trouble, possibly because it is in the middle of a grotty estate. But recently, there have been two interesting new developments:

1. Very little is coming onto the market apart from the ubiquitous 2 bed apartments in new blocks. Some days there are no houses listed at all in Bingley or even close to Bingley.

2. However, a number of houses that have sold have reappeared. Some have reappeared within 2-3 weeks of selling, today one popped up on RM again have been 'sold' for at least 3 months. Mostly the price is being left the same. These are reasonably sized family houses with gardens that sold fast when they were first listed.

[narco]

Anyone else notice rental apartments in leeds are already starting to stick. These Citispace ones have been reduced from £450 down to £375 and they are still there weeks since.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-729...1&tr_t=rent

Maybe the dream of living in some pokey box with laminate flooring and a cheap ikea coffee table isnt all that appealing?

Edited July 23, 2007 by narco

[narco]

Down the slippery slope we go... now £350

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-156...2&tr_t=rent

[Bearback]

From the horses mouth:

Jane Wetherop Partnership

We understand the investment market and will work with you to maximize the potential yields.

We will give you accurate and up to the date information about trends in the investment market so that you make informed decisions as to the best place to purchase.

As we are primarily a letting agent we have a vast amount of knowledge in where realistic rental returns / capitol growth can be achieved and which areas are less likely to achieve these returns / capitol growth.

E.G Supply and Demand

The current demand in Yorkshire is low for city center apartments mainly due to the market being flooded with buy to let properties.

We see this type of investment, as good in the long term but investors must be prepared for some turbulent times ahead in the near future.

If investors are sensible about short-term rental incomes rents are guaranteed to increase when the market is less flooded as demographics have shown in the past

[Fancypants]

From the horses mouth:

Jane Wetherop Partnership

ooh... is that a "guarantee" I see in their blurb? How very naughty!

[No Muggy Bear]

From the horses mouth:

Jane Wetherop Partnership

"If investors are sensible about short-term rental incomes rents are guaranteed to increase when the market is less flooded as demographics have shown in the past"

Are they planning to bomb a few developements to guarantee this?

[narco]

Incidently, I'm currently in the rental market for one of these "luxury" 2 bed apartments. I'm looking at the Brewery / Granary / Roberts Wharf complexes or possibly Clarence Dock, City Island, Whitehall Quay, Velocity or The Gateway.

The amount of choice on the rental market here between 700 and 900pcm is unbelievable!!

Surely this must be a buyers (renters) market? Does anyone have any idea how far some of these places are willing to negotiate. Any tips or recommended letting agents?

Cheers.

[No Muggy Bear]

Go in and give em a cheeky offer, in exchange for signing a 12 month tenancy, it's always worked for me. Theres so many of them, you have nothing to lose!

[strbear]

Here is one with a bit of discount - an off plan flat at Bridgewater place

Yorkshire and Humber -

Leeds & Bradford Area -

Leeds Bridgewater Place

Development Name: Bridgewater Place

Open Market Value (OMV): £450,000

Sale Price: £385,000

Reservation Fee: £1,000

Exchange Amount: £20,000

Discount Property: 14%

Completion Date: Sep 3, 2007 £385,000 Apartment

Buy now and get 14% off - I suspect its only the start of the slide

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Regards

SB

[Lumsden]

Today I was driving over Crown Point Bridge into Leeds and saw a lovely sign declaring "2 Bed Flats from £85K".

I vaguely remember someone on here saying that "we will soon see the sub £100K new build flat in Leeds".

Thought I'd won my Big Ron Style "Spotters Badge". - Did some digging and its only half a badge I'm afraid.

From our friends at Barratts, I present the East Leeds Gateway Development, go one, jump in, you know you want to really..........

http://www.barratthomes.co.uk/site.cfm?intDevID=815

By the way, 1 question. WTF is a 2 bed studio appartment ?

Latest Approximate Prices

2 bedroom apartments from £62,995 to £208,495

Expected Future Availability

1 and 2 bedroom studio apartments

CALL NOW TO REGISTER

[strbear]

Today I was driving over Crown Point Bridge into Leeds and saw a lovely sign declaring "2 Bed Flats from £85K".

I vaguely remember someone on here saying that "we will soon see the sub £100K new build flat in Leeds".

Thought I'd won my Big Ron Style "Spotters Badge". - Did some digging and its only half a badge I'm afraid.

From our friends at Barratts, I present the East Leeds Gateway Development, go one, jump in, you know you want to really..........

http://www.barratthomes.co.uk/site.cfm?intDevID=815

By the way, 1 question. WTF is a 2 bed studio appartment ?

Latest Approximate Prices

2 bedroom apartments from £62,995 to £208,495

Expected Future Availability

1 and 2 bedroom studio apartments

CALL NOW TO REGISTER

Ah I've seen these - they are a lounge / diner / kitchen with 2 equal sized bedrooms off it each with an en-suite - Ideal is 2 friends buy it and share the living space but each has their own bedroom - great marketing - lousy proposition.

Regards

SB

[house.mc]

Flats in Leeds seem to be getting a huge amount of air play on HPC and until a recent visit to Leeds I didn't understand why. Rather sad, I was meeting a friend at the armory. My recollection of the area last time was bleak waste land with old graneries and breweries etc. Now the whole horizon is full of circ 20 story flats.

Supply gone mad, but where is the demand ?

Good to see the gathering point of the goths hasn't changed from out side the corn exchange. However they seemed younger and more annoying.

[Si1]

However they seemed younger and more annoying.

you're probably just older and less tolerant!

[Bootsox]

For interest, I have attached some research based on sale prices for a large block of 1/2 bedroom city centre apartments called Magellan House (near the Royal Armouries).

Colour coded as follows:

red = loss/marginal profit

blue = reasonable/large profit

Updated above with a couple of newly sold properties:

No. 184 bought 21/11/03 for £220,000 sold 10/05/07 for £195,000

No. 21 bought 25/07/03 for £182,000, sold 29/06/07 for £149,000

Sox

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices.pdf

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices.pdf

[Eager FTB]

Prices in Pudsey are slipping on small 1 bed houses at the moment. I have been watching Rightmove for a couple of months and the prices are dropping by up to 5k at a time.

The market is stone dead in Pudsey at the moment, my mate is trying to sell his house. It's been on the market for about 8 weeks with only one viewing. So far he has had to knock 4k off the asking price, there is just no interest what so ever.

[Bootsox]

Updated above with a couple of newly sold properties:

No. 184 bought 21/11/03 for £220,000 sold 10/05/07 for £195,000

No. 21 bought 25/07/03 for £182,000, sold 29/06/07 for £149,000

Sox

Attached PDF is a capture of table contents in graphical form.

Looks at all properties sold in each quarter, averages out profit/loss and plots resultant against a time line.

Sox

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices_graph.pdf

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices_graph.pdf

[Fancypants]

friends trying to sell a 2 bed flat in nice development (about 10 years old) in Rodley. On the market for 4 months, 1 cut in asking price, no interest whatsoever.

[dinsdale]

Emigrating friend trying to sell her house in Halifax. 2 months on the market. 2 viewings, 1 window shopper and the other party put in a 'laughable' offer. She said that they will rent it if they can't sell.

Edited September 8, 2007 by dinsdale

[Bootsox]

This month's update of Magellan House Sale prices:

No. 133 sold for £125,000 on 29/06/07

No. 95 sold for £157,500 on 20/07/07

In tabular and graphical form, based on average profit (sales per quarter)

Regards

Sox

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices.pdf

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices_graph.pdf

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices.pdf

Magellan_House_Sale_Prices_graph.pdf

Edited October 1, 2007 by Bootsox

[dissident junk]

The inner city flats in Leeds phenomenon was silly from the start.

Who did they think would inhabit these units? Young professional couples?

The problem is with Leeds is that there are very few graduate jobs, and the ones there are don't tend to pay much over the average wage of £26K a year. Even employee executives in the 30s are lucky to pull in above £35K.

So considering this, it was foolish to expect anyone apart from speculators to purchase these properties, whether to benefit from CG or BTL.

But then you have another problem. The pool of people in Leeds who would be prepared to pay over £700 a month for a 2-bed pokey flat in the centre is very small.

Why rent something like that when for an extra £50 a month, you can rent a 4-bed brand new townhouse with a garage and a large garden with views across the Calder Valley only 40 mins train ride away?

[Scooby]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/art...4_feature.shtml

Scooby

[frankief]

Anyone got any data on the City Island apartments in Leeds?

I worked with a girl who bought one off plan two years ago.

....She's in marketing and knows the property market.

She tried to get me interested, but i'm just an ordinary terrace house guy, living up in the sky surrounded by laminate flooring and cream walls would make me dizzy.

I Always wondered what happened to her investment. Seriously though, have they bombed or held their price? I could ask her but she wouldn't tell me the truth!