What will happen to city centre apartments?

Bogof_Babe

clobber wrote: »

Following links from the Beetham thingie, I found this from the same architects:

http://www.westbridgeliving.co.uk/

Crikey.

I know that area quite well, it is a bit ropey and dominated by massive horrible roads/roundabouts/junctions. Leicester also does not have a single pleasant stretch of water to go for strolls alongside (as far as I know). It is also not a particularly wealthy place.

It does look nice but I cannot imagine there being that much of a market for it.

I couldn't see any prices on the linked presentation. Are they in there somewhere? Not that I want to buy one - just nosey .

amcluesent

Studios are still on offer in the Barbican in excess of £250,000. IIRC even that development had a rocky start.

Fundamentals still matter, location, build quality, local amenities, 'quality of life' issues etc.

wymondham

In a falling market it's risky to buy a flat as who knows who you will be forced to live next door to when the market hits the floor?? it really is anyones guess how they will be disposed of, and there is nothing you can do about it!

Lo-Lo

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

I couldn't see any prices on the linked presentation. Are they in there somewhere? Not that I want to buy one - just nosey .

Wouldn't hold your breath on these being built in the first place, I heard the developer was in trouble. We'll see though. Can't say I would be worried if the monstrosities stayed as a pipedream!

m00m00

wymondham wrote: »

In a falling market it's risky to buy a flat as who knows who you will be forced to live next door to when the market hits the floor?? it really is anyones guess how they will be disposed of, and there is nothing you can do about it!

the same could be said about any entry level property though

plenty of BTL'ers have been snapping up 2-3 bed terraces etc, and although these won't quite face the same horrific depreciation as new build flats, issues like negative gearing still apply

Mandark

Kittie wrote: »

I have heard on the grapevine that many will be bought by councils for dss

Many of the lower quality flats or the ones in less desirable locations will almost certainly end up as social housing through one way or another. Housing associations are struggling to get loans to build more homes and so can't expand stock plus private developers, who have to provide a proportion of their housing as social housing are of course building far less.

Also the young 'city living' professionals that councils have been told to attract to revitalise city centres will probably start to steer clear of them as they now look a bad investment.

A nice canal side apartment in the centre of Birmingham or in Salford might be a worthwhile buy but a flat in a cheap looking block in Wigan, as a poster stated would not seem that attractive, especially if houses prices are more reasonable.

dhassen

I live in manchester and I think the downfall of all these city centre apartments is a massive massive shame. If they are empty, or worse, if they end up with housing benefit residents or other, they will really really spoil a great city. I think some of the apartments look great in the centre of town, and the vision the companies where selling was great. I just dont think the vision of these urban oasis' will ever become a reaility, and they will fall to rack and ruin

I rented in town for a year, and loved it, untill the building site opposite turned into a massive building double the height of mine. We lived on the top (9th) floor, great...... no, not when 30 yards opposite is an 18 story monster (flasgship - yea) apartment building.

We lived there before the crash, and only about a third of the apartments in our block where occupied. They where bloody expensive to rent too.

I think they are going to basically bottom out, at something more like their true value, then become full of scallys and scumbags.... what a great future for the city I love....

I wouldnt buy in the centre, ever. To be fair that's a lifestyle choice now though, and we did want to live there, and own there a few years ago.

Austin_Allegro

amcluesent wrote: »

Studios are still on offer in the Barbican in excess of £250,000. IIRC even that development had a rocky start.

Fundamentals still matter, location, build quality, local amenities, 'quality of life' issues etc.

I think the Barbican is a bit of a one-off though, isn't it. It's not quite the same as your average 'luxury city living in Basildon' type new-build block.

It's well-built for a start, with good sized flats, and has a perfect location for the city super-rich.

It has a lot of state subsidised cultural stuff going on, which means that the middle classes will always be present in large numbers, which I suspect has a tendency to keep chavdom at bay (in the same way that playing Mozart outside shops etc is supposed to keep young thugs away).

I think also the Corporation of London, that runs the place, has a very good administrative record and tends to run most things better than local councils. I would imagine they come down pretty hard on anyone weeing in the lifts or throwing tellies off balconies etc.

dudleyboy

dhassen wrote: »

I live in manchester and I think the downfall of all these city centre apartments is a massive massive shame. If they are empty, or worse, if they end up with housing benefit residents or other, they will really really spoil a great city. I think some of the apartments look great in the centre of town, and the vision the companies where selling was great. I just dont think the vision of these urban oasis' will ever become a reaility, and they will fall to rack and ruin.

This is how I feel exactly and it's a real shame that this is a very likely prospect for many of our northern cities as Birmingham has become almost unrecognisable compared to the city I grew up in. (B'ham is, of course, in the heart of the midlands but for the benefit of those who live south of the Watford Gap...)

The investment and transformation B'ham has undergone has been phenomenal - one could say restored to it's former glory before the industrial revolution turned the Shire into Mordor (although, ironically, it was the the advent of the industrial revolution, and the jobs it created, that turned B'ham into a popular place to live and the sprawling city it ultimately became).

Unfortunately, with so much of the city's jobs now relying on service, construction, entertainment, retail and commerce, rather than manufacturing, I fear my prediction will ultimately become true. When the "nice decade" ends, and the money supply runs dry, I have a horrible feeling that up and down the land everything is going to go back into reverse. The buildings will be different but they'll still be in disrepair.

Austin_Allegro

dudleyboy wrote: »

This is how I feel exactly and it's a real shame that this is a very likely prospect for many of our northern cities as Birmingham has become almost unrecognisable compared to the city I grew up in. (B'ham is, of course, in the heart of the midlands but for the benefit of those who live south of the Watford Gap...)

The investment and transformation B'ham has undergone has been phenomenal - one could say restored to it's former glory before the industrial revolution turned the Shire into Mordor (although, ironically, it was the the advent of the industrial revolution, and the jobs it created, that turned B'ham into a popular place to live and the sprawling city it ultimately became).

Unfortunately, with so much of the city's jobs now relying on service, construction, entertainment, retail and commerce, rather than manufacturing, I fear my prediction will ultimately become true. When the "nice decade" ends, and the money supply runs dry, I have a horrible feeling that up and down the land everything is going to go back into reverse. The buildings will be different but they'll still be in disrepair.

What's scarey to me is that the UK's economy functioned reasonably well on the back of industry for around 150 years. The replacement service industry has faltered after less than 30 years. I certainly hope we can come up with something to replace it - tourism, international academia, and industrial research and development (jet engines etc) are about the only things I can think of.