Monthly Archive for October, 2006

Manchester; Commercial Property

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 31, 2006
in Manchester Property Market
. 0 Comments

Manchester-Business-CentreManchester Office

A staggering 2m sq ft of new office space is expected to be built in the city centre; it looks like the city will be packed out with bright new office blocks. The rise in office blocks is due to developers realizing the massive earning potential Manchester can generate, with reasonably priced office space, growing income from rent and rising capital values. Investors are acting fast to get hold of the commercial blocks, as they are selling out like hot cakes.

Office flats in central Manchester are rising rapidly; specialist’s claims that rent on new buildings will top £30 a sq ft by the end of next year. This is due to one main factor according to peter Skelton of Lambert Smith Hampton’s “Prime rents are being driven by the increase of pre-lets for large units of quality office space”. At present office space stands at £28.50 per sq ft, however there are predictions that this will rise to £30 per sq ft by the end of 2007, it looks set to be broken soon. Also with the potential arrival of the BBC moving to Salford Quays, this can only help reinforce Manchester position in a regional and national context as an innovative city, in which case boosting property prices and the economy.

Some amazing design schemes in the city centre has raised the standards for new office buildings, for instance blocks like Bruntwood Estates 1 Portland Street, as much as £20-£25 rent is being achieved. This therefore implies that investors are prepared to pay good sum of money for good quality space. Schemes that don’t offer the best facilities will no doubt struggle with up coming designs, designs need to be addressed in the right locations and have access to good public transport.

The world’s largest search engine GOOGLE, also set eyes on Manchester and opened it first UK regional office here. Google chose Manchester as they believed it had the right mix of companies, talent and the prospect for the future looked promising. With these characteristics people are fighting to develop their own companies here. All in all the future looks bright, indicating the only way is up for city centre office rent.

Manchester - Fastest Growing City in the NW!

Published
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Property Know Team
on October 31, 2006
in Manchester Property Market
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Did you know that Manchester is currently the fastest growing city centre in the North West, employing over 1.2 million people and an estimated 400,000 residents. For visitors coming into Manchester you may have noticed parts of the city centre is under construction, the rise of new office blocks and commercial property everywhere.

This is due to a massive regeneration project, which is happening in every quarter of Manchester. In the next 10 years, it is expected that the city will continue to experience considerable commercial development in order to maintain substantial growth. In particular The Great Northern will be home to a new 46,000 square foot casino, expected to be opened in early November 2006, which is operated by the London Clubs International, hoping to attract many visitors to the area.

There are also reports that the local government are discussing plans for a £600 million extension to the present Metro link extending it to Oldham, Rochdale and East Manchester and possibly Disbury, creating easier access to the vibrant city. Other plans are the housing renewal projects such as New East Manchester and the Oldham and Rochdale pathfinder projects, which look set to completely transform these towns, making it more appealing to outside investors, especially with links to the city centre improving rapidly. The next 12 months will see even more active projects.

So Manchester is gradually expanding! We will update you when we find more information about potential expansion plans, that will consequently effect and hopefully cause an increase in property value and activity!

Spotting Potential in London

Published
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Property Know Team
on October 30, 2006
in London Property Market
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Don’t be too scared to buy in areas that may currently seem less desirable at the moment in time, especially in London. There are rough areas and places in London that are currently run down, but hopefully due to regeneration projects will slowly pick up in value. So keep an eye on the London Property Market properly and you maybe able to see these areas. At the Rent A Home London Team, we believe that Stratford and East London are up for a huge revamp that will effect the property prices! (Again, just to cover our backs – it is only our opinion!)

I mean lets take for example Notting Hill, now currently one of the most sought after places for the young and rich to live! I mean, it formerly used to be a down-at-heel ghetto, now a trendy upmarket one, Notting Hill is a vibrant and bohemian area. Properties include grand family villas and stuccoed terraces, lots of conversion flats, council properties, and sizeable enclaves of housing association properties.

Forty years ago Notting Hill was a notorious ghetto populated by poor immigrants and driven by racial strife. But a steady process of gentrification has transformed the area - residents from the old days would say for the worse - into one of the trendiest and most fashionable in the capital.

Prices have risen sharply in response to an influx of luvvies, media folk, politicians, and wealthy City types who flock to its stylish restaurants and up-to-the-minute watering holes. But despite this the area remains socially diverse and multiracial and still retains its vibrant street life and bohemian atmosphere. The bustling, pleasantly scruffy Portobello market attracts thousands every weekend in search of an elusive bargain, while the annual carnival, once a flashpoint for racial conflict, is now a well established celebration of multicultural Britain. A gastronome’s delight, Notting Hill is home to Books for Cooks and an extensive selection of restaurants offering cuisine from every corner of the globe.

Properties include grand family villas and stuccoed terraces, lots of conversion flats, council properties, and sizeable enclaves of housing association property. Nearest tubes Ladbroke Grove, Latimer Road (Hammersmith); Notting Hill Gate (Circle, District, Central); Westbourne Park (Hammersmith).

There are probably many of us who dream to own a property in that area of London, but can currently only dream of that for now! So remember do not be too discouraged when looking at areas that may currently seem less “desirable”, sometimes you have to look more into the long term scale of things. Rather going for short term returns, think more of a long term game - take it like a marathon.

So all the best! Keep your eyes out for those properties in London!

Edinburgh is topping Scotland

Published
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Property Know Team
on October 30, 2006
in Property Know
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Good news if you own a property in Edinburgh - the Edinburgh Property Market is booming. So wouldn’t you love to own a property in Edinburgh - because we would!

Edinburgh has delivered the biggest rise in property prices per square metre in Scotland over the past ten years, according to new research from Bank of Scotland, with a 170% increase from £759 per square metre (psm) in Q1 1996 to £2,052 psm in Q1 2006. Across the UK, Truro has delivered the biggest rise in property prices with an increase of 262%.

The most expensive city in Scotland is Edinburgh with an average psm of £2,052, while the most expensive cities in the UK are London (£3,582 psm), Oxford (£2,741 psm) and St Albans (£2,716 psm). Edinburgh ranks amongst the ten most expensive cities in the UK on a psm basis.

Dundee is the most affordable city in Scotland at £1,285 psm, while Armagh is the most affordable city in the UK; there the average price is £1,009 psm just over one-third of the price in London.

The gap between Edinburgh and Glasgow has widened over the past decade. In 1996, the price psm in Edinburgh was 22% higher than in Glasgow. In 2006 house prices in Edinburgh were 46% higher than in Glasgow, although the gap has held steady over the past five years. The gap between prices in London and Edinburgh has widened substantially more over the last 10 years. In 1996, the price per square metre in London was 34% higher than in Edinburgh. In 2006 house prices in London were 75% higher than in Edinburgh.

Commenting, Tim Crawford Group Economist Bank of Scotland, said: “House price per square metre is a useful measure for house price comparison because it helps to adjust for differences in the size and type of properties between locations. This is a helpful descriptor to be used alongside other more established house price comparators. The strength in house prices per square metre in Scottish cities over the past decade, particularly Edinburgh, highlights that many Scottish home buyers are attracted to the conveniences of city living, like shopping, transport links and easy commuting. Prices remain highest by a large margin in Edinburgh and on a square metre basis it is one of the ten most expensive cities in the UK.”

Source: http://www.hbosplc.com

£91 Million Makeover For Meadowhall

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 30, 2006
in Sheffield Property Market
. 0 Comments

Meadowhall is having the biggest revamp in its 16 year history. More shopping space is being created by adding a floor to the former sainsbury unit. They also have a major refurbishment programme which is being rolled out on the mall floor. The regeneration project has a price of £91 Million pounds. Meadowhall centre director Mohammed Dajani said: “We have invested heavily in this programme and the extensive plans are impressive to say the least” planning rules designed to protect town and city centers currently restrict out of town shopping developments from expanding externally but the changes at Meadowhall involve reshaping an existing unit to create an extra 60,000 sq ft. of retail space.

Two floors are being fashioned in the former sainsbury in the market street area, which will be occupied by Next and Primark, both trading over both floors.

Fashion retailer Primark, who are new to Meadowhall, will open a 73,000 sq ft store selling ladies wear, menswear, childrenswear, accessories and home wear. The reconfiguration which involves a new mall walkway, glazed atrium, cafe, staircase and lift, is due for completion by next summer. Meanwhile, the next phase of a refurbishment programme includes the installation of a mall cooling system, new seating and architectural changed to “open up” the malls so that they look and feel brighter.

Mr. Dajani said: “We are at a very exciting time in Meadowhall’s history and the centre is going from strength to strength.” It has also been “another fruitful year”, with national and international awards, “all high-lighting the fact that Meadowhall is one of he best shopping centers in the country. But we don’t want to sit in our laurels.”

Owners British Land will be aware of the competition that will be provided by the £500 Million New Retail Quarter in the city centre that will be anchored by a new and bigger John Lewis store along with 100 new shops. The company also owns other land in the east end of Sheffield and, wit the government restrictions on additional shopping space, is looking at developments such as offices and car showrooms as well as the proposed super casino through its partnership with MGM Mirage.

If all these regenerations projects are to go ahead, Sheffield stature of a shopping destination will rise, as a result of improvement to Meadowhall and the city centre, to help stop local shoppers heading for places such as Manchester, Nottingham and London.

meadowhall

Wood Wharf - another Canary Wharf?

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 27, 2006
in London Property Market
. 0 Comments

Following up from the previous post on the developments that will hopefully be booming forth from Canary Wharf comes Wood Wharf. Situated right next to Canary Wharf, it seems to be part of the expansion plan that the British Waterways Company have to the East of London. The plan is to turn the 20 acre Wood Wharf into an additional North Eastern Corner of the Isle of Dogs.

Just like Canary Wharf, Wood Wharf was historically used for the shipping and storage of cargo, for Wood Wharf’s case it was Timber.

So what do the British Waterways Company want to do with Wood Wharf?

Since they have the freehold of Wood Wharf, they can pretty much or less do what they want! But as wise budding property investors they are planning it to be another extension to Canary Wharf. A complete re-haul of the place and turning it a big regeneration project. Unlike some Property Companies, they are looking more towards a long term strategy and are weighing up the pro’s and con’s of developing certain properties.

Their main goals are to provide:
• New Employment Opportunities
• New Secure Places to live
• Enhance and preserve the water space in the surrounding area
• Create new community facilities and retail/leisure services

What have they come up with?

British Waterways Company are calling in “The Master Plan”. With the aim of creating; 3.4m square feet of commercial floor space, 1,500 new homes, open public space and a new canal bisecting the site.

So keep your eyes open for Wood Wharf. This is all planned to be completed by 2011, a year before the Olympics come to London.

Manchester Hilton - The Beetham Tower

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 27, 2006
in Manchester Property Market
. 0 Comments

After much anticipation, Beetham tower is officially opened for business! Beetham tower dominates the sky, the media have created massive attention from the start with its doors finally open this autumn; the media have regarded it as the Hilton Tower.

BEETHAM Tower has 48 floors and is 171 meters (561 feet) in height; it features a striking, slender glass tower –with a glass ‘blade’ increasing the height of the building, creating the tallest building in the UK outside of London and the UK’s 7th tallest building. Soaring across the skyline, this Manchester landmark is ideally located in the heart of the city ‘Deansgate’, within minute’s walk of the city centre. This impressive building had taken construction workers almost 2 years to build now officially completed it looks amazing, very stylish and slick, more importantly it provides splendid views all over the city, reports suggest impressive views can be seen as far as Anglican cathedral in Liverpool and Blackpool Tower.

Within this tower, includes the exclusive corporate 5* hotel chain ‘HILTON’ comprising the lower 23 floors, with more than 270 rooms available, visitors of Manchester are flocking to use their facilities and experience those breathtaking views. In addition there is a state of the art ‘sky bar’ on the 23rd floor, conference facilities, a ballroom, a health centre, shops and restaurants. The upper floors of the Hilton hotel consist of 219 spacious and luxurious apartments ready to be purchased by those special people, with prices ranging from astonishing £100,000 and £2.5m.At this price tag, many celebrities such as footballers have snapped up on these gorgeous apartments as their second home and even making a profit or to by re-selling. The architecture Ian Simpson, has bought the two stories penthouse for a staggering £3 million; this price indicating; its no ordinary penthouse, covering 8,000 sq ft, 30ft tall olive trees and a pool he is one extraordinary person to be residing in Britain’s highest home.

Manchester newest skyscraper has also picked up a few prestigious awards along its journey, the most recent is the award for the building of the year 2006, fighting of huge competition from up and down the country. We will be posting more about MANCHESTER future developments soon!!!

Here are some general facts of Beetham Tower:

* The tallest residential building in the UK.
* The tallest structure outside London.
* 200 ft higher than the CIS building, now Manchester’s second tallest building.
* Built with 57,500 tonnes of concrete.
* Coated with 6,000 glass panels

Manchester-Hilton-Beetham-Tower.
Picture take from
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Business Tourism; Property Prices in Edinburgh

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 26, 2006
in Edinburgh Property Market
. 0 Comments

Edinburgh is renowned for its picturesque city, however if you look further than that there is much more to this enchanted City. Did you know that Edinburgh has been voted as 16th top City in the WORLD, to visit!

Tourism is a large income earner for Edinburgh and more importantly the City Council realise that. As we all know in business to stay ahead of the chasing pack, we have to continually improve the business – in this case the city. Edinburgh City Council are investing heavily into City Improvements. Edinburgh is going to have a transport infrastructure revamp!

So what does this have to do with Edinburgh and it’s Property Market?

Very simply from the fact that decent and accessible transport links to properties increase house value! The plans in the pipeline are to create an Airport Rail Link into Edinburgh, creation of a Tram Infrastructure, and more frequent flights to Edinburgh.

All of these transport plans are currently being planned out by the City Council and its associates! So keep your eyes open for more information, because at Rent A Home Edinburgh we certainly will be.

Some Quick Facts About Business Tourism in Edinburgh:

1. Business tourism is worth an estimated £125 million to the local Edinburgh economy each year.

2. Tourism in Edinburgh generates £1.6 billon annually and sustains over 30,000 jobs.

3. Edinburgh is the most popular city in the UK in which to hold an international association meeting. Glasgow is in third place.

4. Edinburgh and Glasgow, between them, accounts for 95% of all international associations meetings in Scotland.

5. Edinburgh is currently sixteenth most popular destination in the world to hold an international association meeting according to figures released by the International Convention and Congress Association (ICCA).

6. The average overnight spend of a corporate delegate is £146 and an international association delegate, £210. (Source: “Estimating the Direct Benefits of Conferences to a local Area” research commissioned by VisitScotland, Welsh Northern Irleand Toruist Boards and VisitBritain in 2001).

7. If an additional 10% of the annual 800,000 business visitors to Edinburgh & Lothians were to extend their visit by just one day for leisure purposes, then an estimated additional £5 million would be earned for the local economy.

8. Investment in transport infrastuctiure including an airport rail link, the introduction of trams and increased direct flights to Edinburgh will continue to ensure Edinburgh’s continued appeal as a conference destination.

9. The opening of the Scottish Parliament and the increase in political meetings, the EICC expansion, further development of Centres of Excellence and investment in new venues and hotels will also provide additional opportunities for Edinburgh’s growth as a conference destination.

10. Edinburgh’s year round programme of world class festivals and events, together with the launch of the new Edinburgh brand will also assist in raising awareness of the city as a dynamic, cosmpolitan destination in which to host a conference, meeting or association event.

Source: http://www.conventionedinburgh.com/press/

Sheffield’s Pre-Christmas Slump

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 24, 2006
in Sheffield Property Market
. 0 Comments

Its that time again and Christmas is drawing near. Even with the increased renovation projects in Sheffield and new property developments on Bramall lane. Property prices in Sheffield have only risen by 0.3% between September to December 2005. Even though there are plenty of properties which have seen no price movement at all and some are even experiencing a price drecrease.

Personally I don’t believe that this is a isolated case. The UK property market has generally slowed down and Sheffield is following suit. The usual Christmas slump is here but overall property prices are generally still increasing in Sheffield. People are still out there in the market looking for properties but as there is less competition for properties during this period, home owners are accepting offers either on or just under the asking price. The first time buyer market in Sheffield is still fairly strong but the family property market has flat lined but should recover during the new year period. However correctly priced properties can and will sell with ease.

• The average property price in Sheffield now is £127,092

• South East Sheffield (S12 and S13) has experienced the greatest over quarterly price increase of 2.3%

• Hillsborough experienced an overall quarterly price decrease of 1.5%

• 4 Bedroom modern houses in Hillsborough have suffered a price decrease of 4.2% this quarter

• South East Sheffield has seen the greatest price increase of 12.9%

• The lowest price increase was 3.7% which was experienced by Dronfield

• 4 Bedroom modern houses in south east Sheffield have seen an annual increase of 17.4% which 3 bedroom modern houses which are at 15%

Sheffield Property statistics

Source - www.winkworth.co.uk

Thinking Outside The Box - Greater London

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 23, 2006
in London Property Market
. 0 Comments

Taking another look outside the London Property Market, and peering into the edge of Greater London, Kent.

Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. The county town is Maidstone. Kent has land borders with East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London, and a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames estuary. Kent also has a nominal border with France halfway along the Channel Tunnel. The two cities in Kent are Canterbury, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Rochester, the seat of the Bishop of Rochester.

Ferry ports, the Channel Tunnel and two motorways provide links with the European continent. There are airports at Manston and smaller airfields at Headcorn, Lydd and Rochester.

Kent Property Market versus London Property Market

Rental value growth in Kent has been less volatile than the South East and London, over the past ten years. Kent has experienced a 2.5% increase in rental return values, notably higher than the UK average of 1.9% and compared to a 0.9% for London (These Figures are for Office Rental). Not bad for outside London hey?

With regards to its Residential Performance, 2006 has seen a great improvement in terms of house sales. For the annual percentage rise some places have seen rises of up to 8.1% (Dartford), however taking the flipside there have been places with a -2.1% - so be careful! The overall annual percentage growth for the County is expect to be around 4% - 6% which is slightly above the National Forecast.

However these figures are forecasts and with the strife happening in the Middle East, and the increased oil prices and the uncertainty of Interest Rates we can only try to forecast as accurately as possible and take in the potential threats to the forecasts.

Areas that are anticipated for strong growth are the Dartford and Tunbridge Wells areas, both of these areas are in Greater London. Many London Property investors expect the ever increasing Property Prices of London to have a ripple effect on its surrounds areas; such as Dartford and Tunbridge Wells. In these ares there are a large number of “buy to let” investors who are striving on a strong rental demand, and are averaging gross yields of 4.6%.

The set back about Dartford and Tunbridge wells is the lack of public transport available. Both areas have direct access to London however, the journey times can take up to an hour with a normal average of 40 minutes travelling time. Kent Council are looking at ways to improve the current Public Transport Infrastucture.

London and Dartford
Greater-London-Dartford