The Property Investor Show 2004 opens its doors at the end of this week (17 – 19 September, ExCeL Centre, London) with more exhibitors than ever before (over 260) presenting a diverse range of investment opportunities to potential investors. Many will be hoping to tap in to the next property hotspot.
Undersupply
The city is still relatively undersupplied with residential properties in comparison to other key cities outside of London. Manchester and Birmingham each have around 10,000 apartments either in development or planned in the medium term, but there are just 1,000 completed city centre apartments currently in Leeds and only 4,000 planned for development in the next four years.
Nick Clark, Managing Director of the Property Investor Show, comments: “With property prices in London and the south higher than ever, it makes sense to looking at property in the cheaper areas of the country further north. Leeds is a typical example, having reinvented itself as a modern city with the apartments and leisure facilities to match. However property in the area is still relatively cheap and the high demand means that investors are seeing strong returns both through rental yields and capital gains.”
Regenerated and rejuvenated
The city of Leeds is one of the fastest growing in Europe, fuelled by its status as a respected centre for professional services, and the influx of employees and residents this brings about. During the last recession the city lost thousands of manufacturing jobs but in the ten years since then the city has been regenerated and rejuvenated, becoming a centre for office-based financial workers such as HSBC First Direct, Halifax and Yorkshire Building Society. This has brought an influx of employees looking to live in the area and the city’s development has reflected this. Apartment schemes dominate the city centre and a host of restaurants, bars and shops have sprung up following the lead set by Harvey Nichols who opened a store here in 1996.
The relative undersupply of new homes in Leeds means that new developments are selling very quickly. Morgans, city living specialists in Leeds, experienced this high demand with the Trinity One development near Clarence Dock. The scheme, consisting of 111 luxury one and two bed apartments and penthouses, is already over 70% sold, but will not be completed until March 2005. The majority of the apartments have been sold to investors keen to take advantage of the developing market.
Jonathan Morgan, Managing Director and founder of Morgans, comments: “The Leeds market is still reasonably immature and with the prospect of continued commercial development, a broad and vibrant economy and strong inward relocation, the future supply of tenants seems assured.”
Other Leeds-focussed companies exhibiting at the Property Investor Show at the ExCeL Centre in Docklands from 17 to 19 September include Crosby Homes, Hunters, PPM and City Lofts.
