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Leeds Dragon Boat

Congratulations to all at Leeds Community Foundation for putting on a highly successful race on the River Aire in Leeds City Centre. The race was unsurprisingly won by the Fire Brigade Team, who had apparently been practising! Experienced observers concluded that the race far outshone a similar event in York and apparently, over twenty teams have already committed to next year. Over £20,000 was raised to support the less fortunate communities of Leeds.

Date posted - 15/07/2008

Mail on Sunday

A recent article in the Mail on Sunday painted a slightly more accurate picture of the state of the market- the myth that 30% of apartments in the city centre are empty was dispelled although the journalist did tell me that his editor had warned him not to go to Leeds and be ‘taken in by the guff of self interested estate agents’. Charming! Let’s hope that this small step towards accuracy rather than hysteria will encourage others to take a similarly thorough approach.

Date posted - 15/07/2008

Down at the dock

Hot on the heels of lettings to Pizza Express, Starbucks and Tesco, comes the surprise news that three fashion brands are set to open at Clarence Dock. All Saints, G Star and Rock Couture will open shops later this year. According to Simon Kidd of Crosby Lendlease, the company is exploiting a gap in the Leeds fashion scene by attracting ‘cutting edge brands’. And there’s me, thinking All Saints already had a shop in Leeds.

Date posted - 15/07/2008

Housing demand

Long standing claims by the government and various researchers, that the market is radically undersupplied look sure to be called into question in the near future. The much quoted Barker report which referred to a clear and dramatic shortage of new housing seems at odds with current sentiment. The volume of transactions looks likely to fall by 40-50% during this year and most pundits are now settled on falling prices and continuing difficulties in obtaining mortgage finance. Whilst we expect net growth in the private rented sector to take up some of the latent demand, we do not see that this will come anywhere near satisfying supposed rates of underlying growth.

It could be that the assumptions which have been made are not accurate and we may now see an adjustment of the governments view.

Date posted - 30/06/2008

City centre pipeline

City Living in Leeds has had a rough ride in the national media for some months, in our view unfairly. The buy to let boom which followed the post 9-11 stock market crash, had a huge effect on the market short term, driving developers to deliver more and more formulaic product without ever really taking stock of true demand but this period is now well and truly over.

The pipeline of potential new apartments, which was widely reported as being over 20,000, has now come into sharp focus and a recent study shows that only around another 3000 apartments will be completed in the next 4 years. This would mean that there would be around 9,000 apartments in the city centre and in the context of a metropolitan population of 730,000, we believe that this is entirely sustainable.

Date posted - 30/06/2008

Rentals

Unsurprisingly and in stark contrast to the sales market, rentals are booming right across the city. It is impossible at present to determine just how much of this demand is from people who had been planning to buy and how much of it is due to the traditional seasonal upturn we tend to see through the summer. Either way, we expect the rentals sector to see sustained growth going forward as the quality of stock improves and as an entire generation of homemakers experience their first taste of a difficult market.

Date posted - 27/06/2008

Modest mortgage rate cuts

Small but welcome is how we would describe recent cuts in mortgage rates by Abbey, Nationwide and now Halifax, who have reduced some of their offers by 0.15%. Lenders are still faced with high interbank lending rates and the spectre of future losses and are taking an unprecedented stance. Having met with a few lenders recently, it seems that most believe we will see the situation ease somewhat in 2 or 3 months time but there is no prospect of a return to the reckless lending of recent times.

Date posted - 27/05/2008

First Direct back in the market

After a 6 week spell of not offering mortgages to new customers, First Direct, part of HSBC, have now started lending again. Having been deluged by a flood of applications as the mortgage market tightened, the firm have cleared a year’s worth of applications in just three months and are now back to business as usual.

Date posted - 27/05/2008

Arena Update

SMG Worldwide have now been chosen as the operator for the Leeds Arena. It was hoped that the preferred location would be announced at the same time but this was not the case and we will have to wait and see if it is to be Sweet Street, Elland Road or perhaps a surprise! SMG currently operate the Manchester Evening News Arena and the Metroradio Arena in Newcastle. Odds on the Kaiser Chiefs for launch night.

Date posted - 27/05/2008

Rents on the up

The RICS survey for the first quarter has unsurprisingly shown an increase in properties coming on to the market for rent, an increase in average rental yields and fewer landlords disposing of their properties. Fears that a recent change in capital gains tax legislation would prompt a mass landlord sell out have not materialised and many investors are planning to grow their portfolio in a market which seems set to favour the buyer for some time to come.

Date posted - 27/05/2008

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