TBH the whole idea that all apartment blocks are bought by investors doesn't hold water, in the heady days of the late 90's owner occupation was about 75-80% but even now it comes in at a steady 50% and has more or less stuck at that level since early-2003.
The fact is that it is perceived as an exciting and convenient way to live, with the biggest reason as always that people would prefer to walk to work/shops/go out than need to rely on the car, which I can't see really changing as the real cost of owning and operating a car becomes more expensive. The fact is that the CC market is consistently underpinned by a market of people who either can't afford to live in the City Centre or w ho still can't find the development they want. Even me as a "wealthy young proffessional" (Thanks for the stereotype!) still can't find what I would like in the City Centre either from a value point of view or moving into something I like, and I know dozens of people living in Kings Heath, Erdington, Selly Oak who are in exactly the same boat.
The main adjustments that I see happening in the market is that the shoddiest developments are the ones that you will consistently see on the market, So a quick browse through rightmove over the past few years and I would venture years to come would see loads of apartments for sale at places like Qube and J-Quarter and virtually none at Symphony Court!
Additionally the fact that most of them appear empty is really a bit of a misnomer, Most of the apartment blocks in Birmingham operate at between 80 and 95% occupancy. Just because the lights arn't on it doesn't mean no-one is home. Drive down any residential street at 9 o'clock and see how many of the lights are on, In my block in Erdington, Every apartment is occupied, but I am always amazed how few lights are on.
For the facts about 5,000 apartments have been built in Birmingham CC since 1998, with an estimated further 5,000 in the pipeline before the and of 2010, At the moment owner occupier figures are at about 60% of total. In terms of comparable places somewhere like Machester/Salford has about 10,000 for a comparable Metro district and also has lots of City living in sattelite towns like Liverpool, Stockport, Warrington etc. Birmingham is still a way behind cmpared to that and the City Living market in the sattelites is pretty poor, with basically two developments in Wolvo, a few in coventry and a couple in Lem and Sutton. What is more concerning is that in the long term there appears to be a pretty healthy supply. But in the immeadiate short term there isn't enough, in terms of sales several massive developments have just finished ie Southside, Jupiter, Holliday Wharf and Orion, while several smaller schemes, Rotouda for one (I don't think 234 apartments is exactly huge and it was mainly bought by London types) have already 100% sold there, there are lots of smaller schemes such as in the JQ, but the reallly big ones such as Cube, Arena Central, Typhoo Wharf, Martineax Galleries, even the next phase of Masshouse are 18 months away minimum.
In short, no the bottom isn't dropping out the market, WCS the market may readjust by 10% or so, what is happening is more choice, which means developers will need to raise their game and produce better product!
ok rant over:baaa:
