Major developer in administration

amcluesent

One of Leeds' biggest developers has gone into administration

K W Linfoot has been responsible for a large part of the regeneration of Leeds City Centre.

Another major Linfoot project in Leeds city centre, the £225m Lumiere scheme, including Europe's tallest skyscraper, was put on ice last year. It will also be run by venture partners.

The firm has already pared down its staff from 34 to 10 over recent months.

spuds_2

I'm not surprised by this news. The centre of Leeds is awash with new-build flats that are empty or unsold. It has been crazy the way city centres have been over-developed to saturation point. There is only a limited number of people who want to live in one bed flats in a city centre.

Many of thse flats were bought as BTL using developer's 'discounts' to end up with in effect a 100% mortgage. I should think they are well in negative equity by now.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/17557-empty-houses-in-Leeds.4985208.jp - this article claims that 17 thousand homes are empty in Leeds, more than any other city outside London.

"Leeds West Labour MP John Battle estimates that 10,000 privately owned empty homes stand alongside the city's canal-side, although he stressed that many will be too small for families. He wants Leeds council to be given the power to buy up homes and sell them off again."

I can see many of these flats being sold off or given to the council or housing associations. A shame for those who have lost their jobs though.

cogito

I doubt there are 10000 but you only have to look at these blocks of flats at night and see how few have any lights on and it's obvious that most are unoccupied. I know people who rent apartments for a night at a time in Leeds rather than pay hotel bills. Scary stuff.

And Leeds council were complicit in this to their shame.

ad44downey

Developers gambled bigtime (probably with our money) and lost spectacularly. I'm not sure whether I'm glad that their greed was foiled or worried about who's going to pick up the bill (most likely us)

brit1234

Its happened all across the country on a massive scale. London, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Cardiff are the most well known.

We will see a lot more of this as people realise the spring bounce is actually faltering.

Cleaver

brit1234 wrote: »

We will see a lot more of this as people realise the spring bounce is actually faltering.

Is 'Spring Bounce' now the accepted nomenclature? As we only saw a small rise in January (not spring) I prepose the following terms:

Winter Rebound
Frosty Recoil
Chilly Shortlived Backlash
Jack Frost Snap Back

I may organise a poll for this tomorrow, depending on whether or not I lose the will to live at work and start crying at my desk.