Leeds Building List

[luftnachrichten]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

They were showing House of Fraser and CornX ads when I was in on Thursday and Friday (last friday, not yesterday). Im sure many other people will take advantage of this screen now its established there.

It is not who owns or operates the screen...it is who sponsors it at that time!!!!

again your evidence to your comment that it is primarily for advertising?

[aviator]

Originally Posted by luftnachrichten

Leeds can be described many ways ...rarely "classy"....."functionally developing" may be a better term. You should get out more and see more UK and European cities then you will be more inclined to not refer to Leeds as "classy"

You don't mince your words, do you?

Mind you, I have to agree with you. Just out of curiosity, which UK cities would you deem to be classy? And what would you have Leeds to to achieve that nirvana of classiness?

[Leeds No.1]

Well, consider it; what cities are 'classier' than Leeds. London and Edinburgh, not many others.

How should I know who sponsors it- Im not that keen. Find out yourself, just go to the website. There are no sponsors around it like the other screens. Its just an advertising screen- why would it need sponsors.

[Rob]

Bits of central Leeds are classy (eg. Victoria Quarter, 'The Light'/Browns, Metropole and Queens Hotels, parts of the riverside, the newly refurbed City Square Post office with it's high class serviced apartments and new quality eating places, other stylish restaurants and hotels like Bibis etc, BWP public atrium when it opens). I would of course agree that much of Leeds is not at all classy, but credit where credit's due.

Other European cities have many classy and very non-classy areas, although the ratio may differ. Tourist spots like Amsterdam, Paris and Salzburg all have frighteningly awful areas that the tourist can amble into. (Not to mention US cities where you may fear for your life).

[Leeds No.1]

Id say most of the financial districts and cultural districts of Leeds are classy. The area around the market is good, classy not the right word as it is a market but its no ordinary market. The riverside is generally 'classy'. I would agree that away from the centre though there are lots of not so good areas, but Roundhay and Alwoodley are quite sought after.

[Fred2]

Interesting article in the property section of ‘The Times’ last Friday.

“Are we building the right homes?”

Wrong size, wrong shape, and wrong place: developers are building tiny inner city flats when buyers want three-bed family houses. It quotes a Yorkshire developer who is investing in terrace houses; “Why would a young couple spend upwards of £120,000 on a town centre apartment when they could buy a beautiful terraced house with a garden for £80,000?”

Meanwhile new apartments stand empty and are losing value. It mentions that 36,000 city-centre apartments are expected to be completed in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield between now and 2015 and the prospect is that block after block of empty apartments will be the fate of these northern city centres In Liverpool, only 21 flats changed hands in the first three months of this year. It is investors, not owner-occupiers who are shoring up the northern apartment market.

Is the market heading for a fall due to oversaturation?

Discuss.

[Smoggie_Si]

I don't know of any even half decent part of Leeds where you could buy a terraced house for £80k.

I have long since suspected that supply massively outstrips demand for city centre flats. There will always be a strong market for the warehouse conversions but the new builds are commodity items and I wouldn't even consider buying one for investment purposes, particularly at the vastly inflated prices being quoted for Greenbank and the New York Street developments.

That's my view as an interested observer of the Leeds city centre property market, it's been very interesting to read Stig's comments as someone in the business and it sounds like my hunch is correct.

It was fascinating to see the recent high profile marketing push of Greenbank to London investors with full page adverts in the Evening Standard. It seems to me that they were targeting people who know little of Leeds other than its reputation as a fast growing dynamic city (this seems to be the common view of most Londoners that I have encountered). It seems that some of these investors got caught up in the excitement and bought without researching the location and the reasonableness of the price. To spend upwards of £200k without doing even basic due diligence is incredible, witness recent posts on the Greenbank thread!

[Leeds No.1]

With demand, we are not building the right houses; but how can we keep on going building big houses? We'll end up urbanising the country. We cant have everything, people need to change their ways and start to live for need over greed.

[Fred2]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

With demand, we are not building the right houses; but how can we keep on going building big houses? We'll end up urbanising the country. We cant have everything, people need to change their ways and start to live for need over greed.

We don't necessarily need BIG houses No. 1. Housing has a role in social engineering (even though that phrase itself sounds sinister and smacks perhaps of government interference in people’ lives).
What I mean by this is that if builders continue to supply only one or two bedroom flats which are priced out of the financial reach of the majority of young people, rather than concentrating on accommodation which would suit young couples wishing to start a family, they unwittingly add to the forces in society encouraging low birth rates which this country (and potential pensioners) can ill afford.

[Leeds No.1]

All they need to do is lower the price and people would move in, such as at Brewery Wharf. Its not hard- as more people would buy more apartments the same amount of money would be made. Some of the penthouses here in Harrogate have gone for over 800,000.

[JOliver]

Originally Posted by Fred2

Interesting article in the property section of ‘The Times’ last Friday.

“Are we building the right homes?”

Wrong size, wrong shape, and wrong place: developers are building tiny inner city flats when buyers want three-bed family houses. It quotes a Yorkshire developer who is investing in terrace houses; “Why would a young couple spend upwards of £120,000 on a town centre apartment when they could buy a beautiful terraced house with a garden for £80,000?”

Meanwhile new apartments stand empty and are losing value. It mentions that 36,000 city-centre apartments are expected to be completed in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield between now and 2015 and the prospect is that block after block of empty apartments will be the fate of these northern city centres In Liverpool, only 21 flats changed hands in the first three months of this year. It is investors, not owner-occupiers who are shoring up the northern apartment market.

Is the market heading for a fall due to oversaturation?

Discuss.

I guess I am one of the bears in a current market, so definitely hope for a price fall. Which will be a good thing. These fat cats (Barrats, Briant Homes et al) are making some really funny money now and can sustain 20-30% price drop easily. My estimates that an average 2 bed apartment must cost them below £100,000. So where £200,000+ selling price is coming from?

Price aside, I absolutely agree that they are currently building wrong type of apartments. They are absolutely not suited for families with children, so who would buy them? Young graduates don’t have this sort of money, and even if they did, would they want to invest in them rather than rent and crash it? Only recently we’ve stated to hear about family-targeted developments. Still to see what they mean by it.

All in all, these are very uncertain times for property market, and if something happens city apartments will be hurt most.

[Molly]

“Why would a young couple spend upwards of £120,000 on a town centre apartment when they could buy a beautiful terraced house with a garden for £80,000?”

you can get a beautiful terraced house for £80,000? Round me the smalish terraced houses are selling for £250,000.

There are loads of ver6y nice family housing projects around out in the sticks locations...

like these type at Apperley Bridge £210.. very cheap for what you get...but the real price is living in the back end of nowhere. But they are cheap for a reason... which is no one really wants to live there..these areas have no life and no identity! ( no insult meant to and Apperley Bridge etc....Residents! )

In the city property is not so cheap...but for a reason. The city is thriving with life and identity. You don't need a masive home because the city is your home! You can have as many rooms as you wish all on your doorstep and no irritation of transpotrt issues.

[Fred2]

Originally Posted by Molly

In the city property is not so cheap...but for a reason. The city is thriving with life and identity. You don't need a masive home because the city is your home! You can have as many rooms as you wish all on your doorstep and no irritation of transpotrt issues.

No doubt you are only referring to the minority of homeseekers. What about families particularly with young children, middle aged and older people ? Where are all the schools, doctor's surgeries, shops, leisure centres, places for old folk to meet ??

[Rob]

Not sure if it's a sign or not, but some work was taking place on the site of the long awaited City Square House 10 storey office block this weekend. It was only minor work with one JCB, a lorry and a few men, but it could be the start of preparatory ground works. We will need to watch that space.

Considering how much the site was bought for, it's amazing the new owners have sat on it for so long without doing much, the old building was finally demolished late last year, but nothing has happened since.

[Leeds No.1]

I would expect they would be keen to get on with it with office demand being so high, and being at a good location.

[LeedsLad]

Noticed today that the rather interesting building down the side of the NHS HQ building is covered in Dobson scaffolding. It's the building that appears to have been cut in half by the construction of the railway viaduct - formerly a mechanics workshop? The workshop looks to be getting rebuilt/refurbed - not sure about the 'half' building. Sure there must be an interesting story behind it?...

[roverman]

I'm with Joliver. City apartments as have been constructed in Leeds, Manchester etc are unsustainable and will be highly vulnerable to a property slump simply becasue they are not adaptable - they are only suited to young singles or couples - because of their location and design. Compare this with Victorian terrace or semi in an areas close to the city, which can often be bought for about the same money as a two-bed city loft. The old house can be rented out as several bed-sits, or two or three decent sized flats, or a single spacious and characterful family home. According to the state of the market and the demand in a particular area it can change and be adapted. The city pad cannot. The city pad is also not really delivering the sustainable re-generation of our cities that we hoped for. The occupants mainly are there to party, not form communities, and to leave as soon as they have/plan a family. This is not the Eurpean style multi-generational, inclusive life that makes for pleasant, sophisticated urban spaces. In Manchester it's very difficult to find anywhere to sit for a quiet coffee after Starbucks etc shuts up at 6 or 7 pm. You can get pissed or laid 24hrs - but there must be more to life than that?

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by roverman

You can get pissed or laid 24hrs - but there must be more to life than that?

Must there?

[Fred2]

Originally Posted by di Livio

Must there?

Yes - when you get older than 35 !

[Fred2]

Originally Posted by Fred2

Yes - when you get older than 35 !

Or - I might add - younger than 15.