Monthly Archive for October, 2006

Property Life Outside Central London

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 19, 2006
in London Property Market
. 0 Comments

Yes, believe it or not there is property life beyond Central London. Outside “Zone 1” of the Public Transport Zone in London, a great deal of what is considered London Property Market Growth is starting to slowly bloom. Places such as Dartford, Croydon, and Blue Water which are only 20-30 minutes away from Central London are starting to go with the flow and have started to have build their own “exclusive” Property Developments. This means slight lower prices due to its location, however a compromise for a train journey away from Central might be just worth it. If you see the plans for Dartford;

The Bridge, Dartford

One of the county’s most innovative developments, The Bridge, is now underway following a Development Agreement between Dartford Borough Council and ProLogis Developments Ltd. The project will see the old Joyce Green Hospital and Littlebrook Lakes site at north Dartford transformed into a new and vibrant community. The Bridge will encompass 1,500 high quality homes, a science park with innovation centre, business park and a ‘primary school of the future’ at the heart of the new residential area.

George Wimpey plc will be developing the first phase of 1,100 homes over the next seven years, which will be set among the existing environment of mature trees and water ways. ProLogis, the world’s largest distribution company, will be at the helm for the office, industrial and distribution development.

The 264 acre project will also be a vital link in the new Fastrack transport system, which will connect Dartford and Gravesend town centres with Bluewater, Darent Valley Hospital and Crossways Business Park. A new bridge is to be constructed over the M25 to provide a Fastrack route between Dartford Station, Temple Hill and The Bridge to Crossways.

The Area for Regeneration
kent-dartford-the-bridge

A nice River Side Estate coming in. It has the similarities of the Properties Developments surrounding ExCel near Canary Wharf. So don’t just limit yourself to Central London because you can easily get great returns on Properties outside Central London. Especially if you are a first time buyer it may be in your interest to look outside Central London.

All the best!

Source: http://www.kentpropertymarket.co.uk/regeneration/thameside.htm

Dream Home… If you’re a Blade’s fan

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 16, 2006
in Sheffield Property Market
. 0 Comments

If you’re local to Sheffield you may know that the final phase of the £30 Million development at Anchor Point on Bramall Lane was opened this Thursday just gone. It was opened by Neil Warnock, Sheffield United Manager. Fairly appropriate as he and his premiership team would likely become your neighbours if you were to live there in the near future.

So what does this mean?

It means property value increase!!! With the scale of the development and investment at Anchor point, it will have attracted a lot of media attention on Sheffield in general. We believe that this is one of the little pushes Sheffield needed for the “snow ball effect” We believe that this maybe the start to Sheffield becoming a dominant business city on par with the likes of Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. Sheffield is receiving huge amounts of investment and interest not only from the property development industry but from the Government as well. As you know the huge renovation project in Sheffield is Government backed, the renovation also includes the rebuilding of the train station, we will talk about the renovation of the train station in a later post. We believe within 10 years time Sheffield will be a vibrant, dominant city and will play a major part of the UK’s economy.

Sheffield Development

The £30 Million investment at Anchor Point, Bramall Lane will have great effects to the surrounding areas of Bramall Lane. The investment into the development will surely increase the value of nearby properties. We also believe that the insurance rating of the area will decrease, from a high risk area to a medium/low risk area. We believe that if the manager of Sheffield United and his team move into the area (as stated in newspapers locally) then due to the nature of the people staying their, security and police presence would increase. As insurance ratings drop, property value increases as properties are deemed more desirable due to the decreased risk on ones property. This would also increase the renting price in the local area, again due to the increase of desirability of one place.

If you’re a Blades Fan that’s the place for you :D

Happy Property Hunting

Early X’mas Present

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 16, 2006
in Property Know
. 0 Comments

Winter is approaching fast, which case many of us are thinking about Christmas presents, this is generally where we will see the slowdown in property prices.

In the current property market, it seems inevitable that property prices looks like they are going to continue to rise. In another words this means big profit, as demand is still outstripping supply. Recent reports suggest house prices are rising at their fastest for nearly four years and show no sign of running out of steam, not even with current interest rates being hiked up. According to one to one of the biggest building society property owners have seen their houses rise by an incredible £30 a day in the UK. However houses prices in the North West have seen an increase of £14 each day, with average property prices approximately around £151,198. Higher interest rates, has yet seem to threaten the property market, at present it seems very strong and stable. Rising immigration and a growing economy, has done wonders to peoples confidence, ultimately creating higher demand and fuelling property prices. Reports have mentioned that house price inflation have risen by a 6.9% in the third quarter, an impressive increase of 4.8% from the second quarter, now with a typical house costing of £168, 640.

London and the Olympics 2012 - Part One

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 15, 2006
in London Property Market
. 0 Comments

London 2012 Old Olympics Logo

As the majority of us know, London has won the bid for the Olympics 2012 to come and be played in London. This is a great achievement for London especially in the eyes of many British to beat the French to it – made it even better!

London now has to prepare for the Olympics and the expected estimated figure of 8 million event tickets to be sold for the summer of 2012. The amount of people to be around in London is going to be absurd, especially with the current transport infrastructure. There is going to be a vast amount of money “pumped” into the Olympics by London (& the UK Government) and The International Olympics Committee (IOC) to help generate London into a state of an art Olympic accommodated city. Funding will be required to build new stadiums, to accommodate the vast amount of visitors and also to improve the current transport infrastructure of London.

These are rough forecasts of the costs and revenue for the London Olympics:

Costs:
* £560 million for new venues, including £250 million for the Olympic Stadium.
* £65 million for the Olympic village.
* £1.5 billion to run the Games.
* £200 million on security.

Revenue:
* £1.5 billion from a special Olympic National Lottery game.
* £625 million from a council tax surcharge of £20 per year for London households.
* £960 million from IOC television and marketing deals.
* £450 million from sponsorship and official suppliers.
* £780 million from ticket sales.
* £250 million from the London Development Agency.
* £554 million from licensing.

Further expenditure, notably that on infrastructure, will be counted as outside of the Olympic budget.

Figures taken from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics)

The main areas chosen for the Olympics to take place are in Stratford and Lower Lea Valley in London. These two areas are governed by Newham, and will be undergoing extensive cosmetic regeneration!

What does this have to do with Rent A Home London?

Simply because in our eyes this means a property value increase! Property developers have and will also spot this opportunity and have and will start to inject vast amounts of capital for further property developments in the East & South Eastern parts of Central London.

There has been an increase in Property Developments around the Royal Albert Hall near the “Excel” Exhibition & Conference Centre in London Docklands.

Why here? The Excel Exhibition & Conference Centre, is a confirmed host for the London Olympics – and it is planned to host boxing, judo, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling events.

The Excel Exhibition & Conference Centre London ExCeL-olympics-london

Property Developers are in the industry and know what will cause their properties to be sought after, thus having an impact on demand and eventually increasing their prices.

Excel London Olympics

Following the trend here? We hope you are!

Well that is all for now – but we will be posting more up about the London Olympics and its relationship to the Property Market!

Some good up to date information about the London Olympics provided by the BBC - Olympics Section

Manchester “Student Jackpot”

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 12, 2006
in Manchester Property Market
. 0 Comments

Manchester University is one of the largest educational institutions in the UK. During October 2004 The Victoria Manchester University successfully merged with the University Of Manchester Institute Of Science and Technology formally known as (UMIST). This created the largest on site University in the UK. According to UCAS 2006 had an unprecedented 62,000 applications to the university making it one of the most popular student destinations. It also has a yearly income in the excess of £500.000. Plans are underway for it to become one of the top 25 universities in the world by 2015. Therefore the University is currently undergoing major redevelopment with an estimated 500 million pounds being invested to create new facilities and expand academic departments creating a world class University of research.

With all this in mind, investors around the country have flocked to Manchester realizing the massive earning potential this may have on the property market and their future earnings. Property in Manchester has risen dramatically making it an ideal hotspot especially in popular student areas such as Fallowfield, Rushholme, Longsight, Disbury, Salford and Hulme. When February comes many students are looking for places to live for their next academic year, many of which cannot afford mortgages therefore renting is usually the only option. Due to the lack of student accommodation, rent prices approximately range from £40- £140 per person a week.

For investors with property in Manchester, this is like hitting the jackpot. With the expansion of the University and growing student numbers you’ll have the peace of mind knowing your investment continues to grow maintaining those great returns.

Interest Rates; First Time Buyers

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 11, 2006
in Property Know
. 0 Comments

On 5th October 2006, The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee kept interest rates at its current level of 4.75%. With predictions of an interest rate increase for next month, it looks like a rocky road ahead for first time buyers once again. Whilst trying our best efforts to save every penny for that perfect home whilst property prices continue to rise.

For first time buyers’; jumping onto the property ladder just doesn’t seem to get any easier. However there is light at end of the tunnel, where first time buyers are concerned they do have a certain degree of advantages. Firstly interest rates have been their lowest for the past 30 years making it a lot cheaper to borrow nowadays and high street banks providing you competitive offers in order to attract your custom, am sure there is a good deal out there in the market for us all. In fact most first time buyers have no chain involved, this means they are not waiting for their own property to be sold in order to move in the new, therefore a quicker transaction can be made with less hassle, this will no doubt make you more appealing to home sellers.

This means all you need to do now is look for the right property in the right location and the right price tag! We will be posting some of the most sought after property developments in Manchester!

Good lucking property hunting!

Quick Facts About Manchester

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 11, 2006
in Manchester Property Market
. 0 Comments

• Manchester is located in the north west of England; many people consider this city to be the second city within the UK just behind London.
• Manchester is the third most densely populated city in the country.
• Manchester is home to 2 main universities, The Victoria university of Manchester that has now merged with university of institute of science and Technology (UMIST) in 2004, which has now become one of the largest universities in the world. Also Manchester metropolitan university both situated in central Manchester. Manchester caters for more than 100.000 students.
• Manchester has 2 main shopping centres one conveniently located in the town centre known as the ‘Arndale’ offering all your high street brands such as Topshop/man, Zara and Burtons, whilst the other large shopping complex is located in old Trafford “ the Trafford centre” which has many prestigious brands such as Selfridges, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton and many more, .
• Manchester hosted the XVII commonwealth Games in the summer of 2002
• Manchester has the largest population of all the ten Greater Manchester districts and Bury has the smallest population.
• Manchester is a multicultural city boasting of great diversity of cultures and activities throughout the year.
• Manchester attracted the third highest number of foreign visitors in 1997, boosting employment in hotels and restaurants.
• Manchester is home to one of the best football clubs around prime example is world famous Manchester united located in old Trafford
• Manchester Business School is one of the leading business schools in the world. The School has built its reputation for developing tomorrow’s business.

Development of Castlegate, Victoria Quays; the Riverside

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 11, 2006
in Sheffield Property Market
. 0 Comments

Castlegate is an important location, when Sheffield is concerned. It is one of the most used gateways in the city centre apart from the parkway duel carriageway. The huge renovation project has also included Castlegate, Victoria Quays and The riverside to be renovated. Castlegate is a key link from the city centre to the quays and riverside areas.

Ideas for the area include redesigning the whole market area and creating a whole new “mixed-use scheme.” There are also plans for redesigning the Broad Street and Sheaf market sites for new office developments to attract companies seeking either a mini base or main headquarters. With this new design it will allow the city centre to connect to the quays and riverside as a whole and will attract new businesses and residential apartments to emerge along the riverside.

The sheaf market buildings have already been demolished and are now ready for Phase 1 of the work to commence.

Urban Regeneration Sheffield

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 11, 2006
in Sheffield Property Market
. 0 Comments

Sheffield is the 4th largest city in the UK.

It is a major city with an estimated population of 520,700 (2005). The city centre in this moment is undergoing a makeover the likes Sheffield has never seen. This extreme makeover is due to a combination of factors which include national, regional and local government urban policies, which believes the look of the city itself is directly proportional to its economic growth.

Will the Property Bubble burst?

Published
by
Property Know Team
on October 10, 2006
in London Property Market and Property Know
. 0 Comments

For the past century there has been a great deal of speculation on whether the property bubble will burst in the UK, but mainly will the magic bubble burst in London. For the past several years house prices has gradually increased. Every year there would be a big “Woo Haa” over whether the market was too saturated and if the house prices were over inflated.

The concept of inflation (rising house prices) derived from the fact that people had started buying London property market at a fast pace compared to properties being built. Thus using the Supply and Demand chart; Demand would become greater than Supply creating an in equilibrium in the market, further resulting in increasing property prices (“inflated” prices) compared to the real value of the actual property. A great deal of buyers were scared of the fact that if they didn’t buy now the prices would increase threefold and by then they would not be able to enter the market.

The Rent A Home London Teams personal view on this “bubble bursting”?

Well, land is land, the Earth is the Earth. With our currently technology we have no possible way of creating more land. So land (supply) will always stay the same, but demand is another story. The more people there are, the higher the need for houses. And with the ever increasing booming population, we are doomed! Just kidding – but the only way demand is going to go is upwards, especially with the exponentially growing population. Supply, may increase with man made landfills or man made islands but it will not be able to keep up with the worlds population. In short, demand will always out weigh supply. Consequently increasing the price of property because as we know if something is in higher demand people will want it more and be more willing to pay for that “something”, in this case land!

With regards to London, in our opinion – (just to cover our backs) emphasis on in our opinion, price will not go down or “burst” – it may stabilise. Right now in the news commentators are stating that workers in the UK are unable to afford a house until they have worked for X amount of years. Yes, and we will agree with that – BUT it is London, the capital of England. So the demand is not just restricted to UK, it is world wide. Outside the UK, there are a large group of wealthy individuals who want and are willing to purchase in property in the sought after capital of England, London. The foreign investment will create a demand even when local demand is weak or decreasing.

Buy, Rent & Invest wisely!