The long and the short of property prospects in Ipswich
Released on: September 11, 2007, 5:57 am
Press Release Author: Jimwatson
Industry: Financial
Press Release Summary: Overseas investment in France is booming, with British investors to the fore. Figures from the Economist magazine show the French property market as a whole grew by 87 per cent between 1997 and 2005, with the contribution from across the channel in recent years including a 50 per cent rise in the number of UK citizens emigrating permanently and five times as many buying holiday homes in the country, according to PropertyShowrooms.com.
Press Release Body: So much for stereotypes. It may be some 84 miles from the heart of London, making it distant from the capital if not out of commuting reach, but Ipswich, like so many places, is catching the town centre living bug, with new apartments appearing there as in so many other locations around the country. However, this is not at present the best area in which to invest in property, according to a spokesperson for estate agency Connells. He stated that at present, supply of apartments is outstripping demand, meaning that the current, short-term prospect is for one of low returns.
He said: \"There is a lot of regeneration and there are a lot of new flats and apartments being built in the area, and there has been an influx in to the town centre,\" but added there were still plenty of vacant properties. \"The supply in city centre living outstrips the demand at the moment,\" he noted. This being the case, investors in buy-to-let property might wonder what the best opportunities are in the town. The answer, said the spokesman, lay in the town\'s suburbs, which account for most of its 120,000 population.
He said: \"A lot of people do prefer to have a house, rather than an apartment these days, especially since you get outside parking and extra space in your garden. You don\'t get any of that in the immediate town centre; you do have to go further afield to find that.\" Thus, he added, for those investing in a house rather than a flat, there is \"definitely a more guaranteed return\".
This, however, is only the current position. While those looking to make the best return in the short-term may look to a house in the suburbs, one new development may change everything for the long-term investor. In September this year University Campus Suffolk (UCS), a collaboration between the universities of Essex and East Anglia, will open. The arrival of students should, the Connells spokesman said, mark a turning point in the fortunes of town centre apartments in Ipswich.
\"We are getting a university built, so over the next couple of years it will increase. It\'s more of a long-term plan than short-term,\" he said, adding that the situation would lead over the next few years to demand exceeding supply in the town centre rental sector. East Anglia has historically been short of university towns, despite having the second oldest UK university at Cambridge. Not until the 1960s did any more institutions arrive in the region and, as the UCS website points out, Suffolk has been one of just four counties in England without a university until now.
The experience of university towns elsewhere, as shown by recent Landlord Mortgages survey which showed the average yield from student accommodation is 6.59 per cent, compared with 5.42 for non-student lets, suggests that the belated arrival of university education in Ipswich will be a major factor in boosting the buy-to-let market in the town.
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