Where to buy an apartment/house in Belfast

elephant_guy

I will be moving to Belfast in the next few months with my company and am interested in buying an 1 or 2 bedroom apartment or small house to live in for a year or so whilst I am working in N.Ireland. I will probably want to let the property out after this period.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding any up and coming areas or developments in which I could buy a property in or around Belfast that would be easily rented after I have finished living in it.

I am looking to spend up to £140,000.

meadowcat

You could check out https://www.propertynews.com

thetope

i might be biased but imho east belfast is better value for money rather than the popular areas in south belfast such as malone/lisburn/stranmillis areas.
ravenhill, cregagh, belmont are all nice areas (by and large, there's the odd dodgy patch like everywhere). the rental market is good for young professionals, whereas south belfast rental market tends to be more studenty.

it really depends where in belfast you will be working and whether you will have a car... public transport is not the best in northern ireland.

finally i would definately recommend a house rather than an apartment... the apartment market is totally saturated, there are hundreds of cheaply built apartments that are terrible. an apartment will be difficult to sell, you won't make money on it. for 140k you would get a nice semi a few miles outside the city centre, with somewhere to park your car. for ideas, check out propertynews as mentioned above, though it can be slow to update.

good estate agents in east belfast are cowley groves http://www.cowleygroves.co.uk/ pooler http://www.poolerwatson.com/ and watson http://www.watsonpropertysales.com/ (watson used to be part of poolerwatson but they split up)

belfastgal

You could also try www.ulsterpropertysales.co.uk. I also think East Belfast represents great value and even for getting into town the new Metro bus system is great as it's hard to park in the centre especially if you need parking every day.
Good luck anyway in your search

thetope

think you got the url wrong there above belfastgal... you missed out the "y" in property https://www.ulsterpropertysales.co.uk their online search facilities are totally rubbish though, imho

meadowcat

Good advice re. house with parking rather than apartment. I suppose it all depends on whether you are prepared to travel a couple of miles into the city centre. I would definitely opt for a semi with parking. You could try the Carryduff area around Muskett and Winchester. A smaller semi is about £120,000.

belfastgal

THETOPE : your are correct ,i didn't check it sorry.No more red wine for me on a saturday night ! lol

Caveman_4

Friends of Cavewoman are looking to sell their current 3 bed semi in Four Winds. It's a very nice (see not tainted by moronic bigots) area to live in, also consistently desirable among young professionals for rental or first time purchase. So its ideal for a blow in like yourself (like i was 5 years ago). Try a search on streets such as Glenholm Park/Way etc and Newton Park in https://www.propertynews.com and https://www.ulsterpropertysales.co.uk

Your only 5-10 mins drive down to the city centre and you have decent shops(sainsburys) on your doorstep and other such facilities not far, Ink.

I believe they will be marketing it slightly above 140K but its a corner semi with a larger plot so i imagine other homes will be going for between 120K and 145K so there is scope.
Just to show i am not trying to big up my own area i am just off the Antrim road on the opposite side of town, which is OK but maybe a bit above your pricet

Regards

Caveman

PS. Whatever you do, don't hook up with an Irish binnt, they'll get their claws into you and you'll never leave, it happened to me. Bit like Royston Vasey.

PPS. In the five years i have been here i have never experienced any dodgy moments of any type( be it socialising or day to day, in fact i have more hassle when i head out on a night back home in Glasgow. Post here when you land and i am sure the locals will point you in the direction of the best social attractions and where to meet the Laydeez.

leftieM

I reckon a young professional could do worse than a terrace on the Lisburn Road. I always think it would be nice to live there - there are loads of nice places to eat and drink, fancy shops, and it's handy for town and the motorway. East Belfast is nice too, but the only decent spot I can think of for a night out is The Point in Ballyhack.
I have to echo caveman's warning about falling for a local - Northern Ireland people cannot be winkled out of the place! I thought I was just coming up here for a year in 1993.....and I'm still here.....

elephant_guy

leftieM wrote:

I reckon a young professional could do worse than a terrace on the Lisburn Road. I always think it would be nice to live there - there are loads of nice places to eat and drink, fancy shops, and it's handy for town and the motorway. East Belfast is nice too, but the only decent spot I can think of for a night out is The Point in Ballyhack.
I have to echo caveman's warning about falling for a local - Northern Ireland people cannot be winkled out of the place! I thought I was just coming up here for a year in 1993.....and I'm still here.....

If only I was a "young" professional, just hit 40 last year

Many thanks for all of the great suggestions.... :T

squidzin

There is a wee niche area just between North Belfast and Glengormley (very near Belfast Zoo) that is up and coming and is only about 5 miles from Belfast City Centre. There are three separate new developments being built and a big new Pizza Hut has just opened. The three developments are …

Lesley Lodge – Apartments due for completion I’d say in about 6 months
http://www.ericcairns.co.uk/

Tobar-Glen – First four phases sold out, further phases to be released. http://www.vaughan-homes.com/Tobar-glen.htm#

Horizon Mews – Can’t seem to find these on the internet. They consist of both houses and apartments.

You have to be fast to get any of these properties as they are selling like hot cakes and most are already sold. There is a sign up for another set of Apartments to be built but no sign of any building yet. http://www.jimmcmillan.co.uk/ are the estate agents dealing with all these developments except for Lesley Lodge.

There are other new developments a wee bit further in just off the Antrim Road as well but don't know much about them.

All consist of views of Belfast Lough and hills. They are within walking distance of the shops in Glengormley and Abbey Centre. Public transport is also very good using the Metro Bus service.

Let us know how you get on!