A recent report has outlined the situation of empty shops in various city centres. Wolverhampton, Bradford, and Sheffield were named among places where there is more than the normal concern. The 2008 / 2009 recession may be one factor to blame as part of the reason for shop closures/ empty shops, but it has also to be considered what affect our shopping patterns that we all now undertake may have on the shops that are now closed.
In Peterborough a fairly large modern enclosed shopping centre known as Queensgate exists, and has been in existence for some years and therefore the long term presence of such can be considered on the area. Queensgate is not only close to the city centre but is also just outside the train station with connections to the North / South / Lincolnshire / the Anglia Region and the Midlands. Queensgate also houses the bus station providing bus services locally, and apart from a good road network in and around Peterborough the city is also close to the A1 Road providing major road access to Peterborough. Queensgate and shopping centres like it and the recession is bound to have an effect on surrounding properties / shops, and part of the solution may be action as outlined for Stoke on Trent below.
The Stoke on Trent area suffered in the second half of the 20th century with the decline of the potteries and coal mining but more recently has seen regeneration, including small but nevertheless valuable property improvements and development schemes including developing empty shops into projects to fit local demands as for example a hairdressing salon with flats being provided above. These projects thus providing much wanted rented accommodation, and providing a mixed use asset for landlords and tenants. No doubt this kind of approach does and can help everyone in many a village, town and city that have vacant and run- down buildings and makes full use of valuable space.
Now with building developments generally in Britain progressing at a less hectic pace than say in 2006/7 it may be a good time to grab the opportunity to carry out work on empty shops/ pubs etc in a village, town, or city near to you to utilise the space by providing flats and commercial premises to meet present day needs. You may be interested in a developing a site/ building in your locality and local people are probably best to choose the right kind of development for site concerned for the area they know well.
February 24, 2010
Opportunities in Commercial property Investment
February 7, 2010
January 26, 2010
Cheap houses midlands
Property investment companies are quietly raising funds from investors to allow them to invest in depressed property values in some areas of the midlands. The key strategies for many companies is to focus on high yielding property investments typically with low capital values per unit. The key to turn a profit from these types of properties is to negotiate preferable rates with main contractors and go for high volume purchases.
This give you more leverage with negotiating purchase prices and all the suppliers that assist in the future refurbishment programs which are key to increasing capital values of property investments.
The other plus to a refurbishment of existing property portfolios, is the opportunity for increases in rental yields again this has the knock on effect of increasing capital values of investment property.
January 21, 2010
Cheap houses, rush of mortgage lending
The Council of Mortgage Lending has released its figures for gross mortgage lending for December 09 and they have taken many in the property sector by surprise. The figures showed an incredible 14% rise in mortgage lending for December, which is at best normally a poor month.
Many believe that property buyers, property traders, and buy to let investors have decided to buy in 09 to take advantage of the reduced stamp duty. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find anyone in the mortgage market who believes that 2010 will not out perform 2009. So it will be very interesting to see January’s figures and the future path of interest rates.
January 18, 2010
Will the private rented sector make up for the funding issues of Housing associations?
There is ever increasing concern that the number of available properties for households on lower incomes will be reduced as the funding crisis for Housing associations continued to cause concern.
Many Housing associations are using their limited resources to create shared ownership schemes but this leaves the most vulnerable families forced to look to the private rented sector for their housing requirements. Many Housing associations and private rented Landlords are facing funding challenges after surveyors have “written down”, the value of their property portfolios.
January 14, 2010
House prices Midlands
There is further evidence that the house price recovery is still to reach certain parts of the country. Reports from surveyors suggest that the west Midlands is one area that has still to see the real impact of a house price recovery. London as usual seems to have lead the recovery while areas in the North and particularly Northern Ireland seem the slowest to recover.
There is also interesting evidence of further potential investment gains as large institutional investors are now looking to high end residential buy to let to yield good returns from both rental income and increases in capital values. Some investment fund managers are confident that prime London stock will return to pre credit crunch levels before the year end.
January 12, 2010
Cash for council houses
The money available form the government to build new council homes has been dramatically increased, the government has pledged to make enough cash available to give the sector the most cash for least two decades.
The housing minister has announced that they will allocate a further 122 million bringing the funding for this sector to just short of 250 million pounds. Many councils have bid for a share of the funding estimated to be enough to build around 4,000 new homes.
January 10, 2010
How to make money from property in 2010
The question that many amateur and professional property developers will be asking themselves during January 2010. Well as many predict that 2010 will be a flat year for property prices it is a great year to start your first property development or start to build your investment property portfolio.
The beauty of operating in these market conditions is that most sellers are sensible, estate agents are focused on both buyers and sellers. The banks are looking to loosen their purse strings slightly as lending gradually moves towards more sensible levels. There are still some bargains in the property auction rooms or the estate agents windows and these come without the crazed crowd of buyers that were hunting back in the “glory days of 2007”.
So if you are looking for a nice mid-terrace as your first foot steps into property investment or you have seen a rundown semi that holds a nice £10,000 profit locked behind the flaking paint of the front door, now is an ideal time. Architects and contractors are available and you can often find that the big DIY sheds have various discounts and reductions on Kitchens and bathrooms which can be a big help to any property development project budget.
The building product suppliers are also much more flexible and there are deals on everything from plants and pots for the garden through to positive pressure units to stop condensation.
January 9, 2010
Cash rich investors and top end home buyers responsible for positive UK house price figures?
There are many surveys and reports that clearly show the recent surprisingly high increases in the capital values of “the average house price”. When well read and well thought of reports start to agree with the first more industry bias reports more and more economists start taking note. The Royal Institute of Charter Surveys have rarely been far from the mark and many agree that they have a great record in predicting short term housing market trends. There are commentators who say the top end and London prices are giving a jaded perspective and that less affluent areas are still suffering greatly from the housing market downturn. There is some historic evidence to suggest that the UK housing market prices rises do follow a loose top down model, so we wait to see in a truly interesting and exciting year for the UK property sector.