What next for city living in Leeds?

When investors were climbing over each other to reserve as yet un-built apartments in  Leeds City Centre, it seemed inconceivable that the boom would ever end.  According to the City Living Report of 2007, the pipeline of new apartments was almost 10,000, which would have doubled the total stock levels- the 2010 report concluded that just 500 new apartments would be completed by 2015 and this may yet prove to be an ambitious prediction.

Many of the schemes which were in the pipeline have been simply left behind by market conditions which are almost unrecognisable in comparison to those which prevailed through the noughties.

Dozens of proposed schemes have fallen by the wayside- a few were unlucky and were caught out by savage market conditions but most were destined to fail. Lumiere, once dubbed ‘the tallest residential tower in Europe’ was an ambitious project – very few architects and engineers have experience of building such structures, the construction is hugely complex, and no funder is going to support a scheme without significant forward sales.  It was no surprise, then, that the scheme stalled and ultimately failed, and it will be even less of a surprise if the 10 year old plan for a 13/14 storey scheme to deliver a hotel and offices comes to fruition.  What goes around comes around!

Green Bank is another example of a scheme which whose success rested entirely on the buy to let market. Sitting on the extreme Western edge of the city centre and sandwiched between the busy Globe Road and the main railway lines, it was never anything more than a very good marketing campaign. It was heavily promoted in London where investors were told of its ‘heart of the city’ location and no end of high quality imagery projected a scheme in isolation of it’s more than challenging environs. This was a great example of mind over matter for the duration of the campaign which included an extravagant marketing suite which ironically did more to draw attention to the nature of the location than it did to promote the attractions of living there. Ultimately, what had been a surface car park is once more a surface car park and it is going to take some radical thinking and a sea-change in the market for Green Bank to see green shoots.

Bridge House, directly across the road from the Yorkshire Post building, encapsulates what went wrong- this is a secondary location surrounded by a harsh road network. There is no amenity, no shops or green space and no sense of community- it is surrounded by a mish-mash of low grade buildings, poorly occupied offices and little else. And yet, it was to be developed initially as a 17 storey glass tower of apartments and latterly as a hotel.

At the heart of the story it is the degree to which people’s common sense was swayed- we were asked by a bank to look at the proposed scheme and to run our eye over the values which had been produced for the developer by a local agent. It took us 2 minutes to work out that the rents didn’t make sense- figures like £757.39 kept appearing in the monthly rent column and it took us a further minute to work out that the rents had been calculated by a formula to ensure that they represented 125% of the cost of a 75% mortgage. The agent didn’t have the integrity to provide an honest appraisal, the developer didn’t care and it seemed to pass the bank by completely. Needless to say, the scheme has never been built.

But, with rentals demand approximately 20% higher than it was at the height of the sales boom, and signs of an increase in sales activity, city living is in great shape. Occupancy levels are at record highs which means that there is council-tax paying population of around 14,000- they shop, they eat and they drink!

And what of the future? Britain is highly unlikely to become a nation of renters but it seems certain that we are likely to rent for longer than we have traditionally done and so there will be more demand than supply- we are already seeing the evidence of this. The Private Rented Sector is the subject of much debate and in the South-East at least major institutions are turning their attentions to the opportunities. This trend is unlikely to filter through to the provinces in our view and it will be left to the private sector to fill the void.

Rushbonds’ recent purchase of Crispin House, is testament to a changing market- 82 fully furnished loft style apartments with a residents gym, concierge and secure parking, developed specifically for the rental market. As the sales market recovers, the rentals market will lose stock and it is schemes such as Crispin Lofts which will help ensure that the city centre has the housing offer to support predicted economic growth.

It’s a brave new world.

Top JCI promotion for Emma

LEEDS PROPERTY professional Emma Eastwood has been elected as National Deputy President of the Junior Chamber International (JCI).

JCI is a unique volunteer network for people in their 20s and 30s and is active in more than 100 countries.  Emma, who works as an Associate Director at city living specialists Morgans, was previously JCI’s Local President for Leeds and is currently the UK’s Personnel Development Director.  As part of this new 12 month role she will support JCI’s UK President and help to lead the organisation in the UK before taking over as UK President next year.

Emma explains: “I joined JCI in 2006 after meeting another member and thinking how interesting it sounded because the organisation provides a fantastic networking platform and offers plenty of opportunities to develop new skills, work with charities and participate in other worthwhile projects.  From the outset I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it and I’m delighted to have been appointed to the national board.

“Because JCI is global it also offers lots of opportunities to travel and this summer I’m attending a conference in Germany with 2000 other JCI members followed by a Leadership Academy in Japan and then in November I’m going to JCI’s World Congress in Taiwan.  All these trips are an opportunity to meet and work with likeminded people from other countries and cultures which is always a hugely valuable experience.”

Jonathan Morgan, Managing Director of Morgans, said: “Emma thoroughly deserves this role within JCI.  She approaches every challenge and task with huge amounts of enthusiasm and energy so it’s no surprise that her talents have been recognised and she has been given the opportunity to represent the organisation on a national level.”

Morgans needs your vote in business awards

Morgans has been shortlisted in this years Yorkshire Business Masters 2012 awards in the Yorkshire Grit category and we’d really appreciate it if you’d vote for us.

The awards are hosted and organised by thebusinessdesk.com.  You can see full details of our nomination at the link below and there’s also a button where you can cast your vote.  It only takes 30 seconds – go on, do it!

http://tinyurl.com/7kf4y34

 

Morgans sponsors Headingley Beer Festival

MORGANS BACKS BEER FESTIVAL

THE FIRST ever real ale festival in Headingley has received the backing of property firm Morgans, which has just invested over £500,000 in a new office in the area.

Headingley Beer Festival, which will take place from 25th – 27th May at the New Headingley Club (previously the British Legion Club), is expecting to attract over 2,500 people and will feature beer, bands, food and family entertainment.

Managing Director Jonathan Morgan says: “Its Headingley’s first ever real ale festival and online ticket sales have already proved that there is a real appetite for this sort of event. Having operated in North Leeds for 13 years and recently opened our new 1,200 sq ft office opposite Headingley’s Arndale Centre we were keen to show our support for the festival.”

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The housing market

Gross mortgage lending by building societies and other mutual lenders rose 28% in February 2012, compared to the same month last year, report the Building Societies Association.

New mortgage approvals – the future pipeline of completions, were also up 31% on February 2011 and 29% on January 2012, indicating an increased level of consumer activity. On the other side of the balance sheet, the mutuals experienced a retail savings outflow of £87 million in the month compared to an inflow of £359 million in February 2011. This is an improvement on January where the outflow was £1.1 billion. Adrian Coles, Director-General of the Building Societies Association, said: “Gross lending and new mortgage approvals by mutuals continued to rise year-on-year in February, despite growth across the market as a whole remaining relatively flat. The strong financial results released by a number of mutual lenders in recent months show that the sector is well positioned to offer market leading products to its customers and are open for business. ”

At the same time, Nationwide are reporting that the price of a typical UK house declined by 1% in March- Prices are 0.9% lower than one year ago and the price of a typical home is now £163,327. So if building societies are lending more and yet prices have fallen slightly, this would suggest that the banks are not lending at anything like the level that they need to fuel demand.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Innovative office design is rewarded with award nomination

Morgans has been shortlisted for the RICS PRO Yorkshire Award in the commercial category for its newly opened North Leeds office at 75 Otley Road in Headingley.

The 1,200 square foot office, which specialises in residential property lettings, was designed by Brewster Bye Architects and opened in December.  The property was formerly a derelict detached house that has been completely refurbished and extended to create the purpose-built office which features modern cedar and glass extensions on both sides, an open plan layout, an open roof truss structure and a cut back first floor.

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Leeds city centre pipeline runs dry

Residential sales activity in Leeds city centre is set to grind to a halt if plans for new schemes are not put in place soon – there are  are no new build apartment schemes currently being built and none are planned for next year either.

Having been crowned the empty flats capital of the North in the past, Leeds has gone from one extreme to the other with the only scheme on the horizon being Crispin Lofts, which is being built specifically to let.

In the 2010 The City Living Research Report published by the University of Leeds warned that construction over the next five years would stall with only five schemes, totalling around 600-700 flats, having a chance of being delivered within the next five years.

Schemes within the main city core are nearly all fully occupied which means there isn’t much choice for owner occupiers or investors at the moment. We have gone from a situation of chronic over-supply to a real lack of apartments in these central areas in less than five years.

With rental demand soaring and increasing numbers of potential owner occupiers looking for stand-out apartments in central locations we are also beginning to see some positive price movements.

Leeds benefits from a large financial centre, popular universities and expanding hospitals, and now there is growing demand from young professionals wanting to buy in the city centre we hope that development will start to regain some momentum soon to meet that demand.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Morgans is recruiting

Morgans is recruiting eight new people to work across its city centre and newly opened North Leeds offices as a direct result of increased business throughout our residential sales and lettings departments.

After investing more than £500,000 creating a new state of the art office on Otley Road in Headingley, just four months after opening our lettings business throughout North Leeds increase by more than 10 per cent.

In addition our Dock Street office, which manages Leeds city centre’s largest apartment portfolio, is continuing to grow its market share and is also reporting an increase in sales since the start of the year.

We’ve had a great start to the year, we’re continually winning new business and we’ve also enjoyed a number of big successes such as being appointed by Rushbond Group to let and manage Crispin Lofts on North Street which is being developed exclusively for the rentals market.

As a result we’re now appointing rentals negotiators, property managers, customer services staff and we also have a number of part time and seasonal positions to fill. Although experience is required for some of these roles there are also opportunities for industry newcomers who want to work in property. As long as they have a great work ethic and plenty of enthusiasm they have the potential to enjoy a successful career at Morgans.

For further information on the company visit www.cityliving.co.uk or potential applicants should email a covering letter and CV to s.kirk@cityliving.co.uk.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Shop till you drop!

Trinity Quarter have announced that their scheme is now 66% let, a year ahead of completion. This is an amazing achievement in a difficult market and has much to do with the strength of demand in and around Leeds for quality shopping and leisure. What’s most exciting is the number of brands in Trinity which will be new to Leeds- an Everyman Cinema where you can watch a movie from a sofa with-at seat service, 2 new Conran restaurants, Hollister, Apple, Republic and Giraffe, to name a few. You can view the web-cam at www.trinityleeds.com

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We’re winning new business and we’re recruiting

We’re winning new business every day and we’re looking for new blood. We are looking for people with a strong work record, which doesn’t have to be in property, bags of energy to burn, self-motivation and plenty of self belief.

We are market leaders in city centre and North Leeds rentals and we’re on the move so if you want to be part of something very exciting and you love property, email your CV to s.kirk@cityliving.co.uk and tell us what you’ve got to offer.