Now it's buy-to-leave

July 12, 2008

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BUY-TO-LEAVE Investors have pushed the proportion of unoccupied homes in the city centre to 15 per cent

PROPERTY gamblers are leaving thousands of empty flats and houses across Manchester.

So-called 'buy-to-leave' investors have pushed the proportion of unoccupied homes in the city centre above 15 per cent.

And across Manchester, nearly 5,000 houses and flats have been empty for six months or more.

Council officials say speculators are buying houses and then leaving them empty as they wait for the housing market to bounce back from its slump.

They warned the trend was being made worse by the difficulty first-time buyers are facing in getting mortgages.

The percentage of `empties' in the city centre hit 15 per cent six months ago and appears to be rising, says council research.

Monitor

Housing bosses now plan to monitor the data on a month-by-month basis and have warned they will take action if empty properties 'cause a nuisance to the environment'.

Council chiefs have drawn up a package of measures including enforced sales if an owner fails to pay local land charges, and Empty Dwelling Management Orders, which allow the council to take over running a property for up to seven years.

Manchester city centre has experienced a massive building boom in the past decade, with the population rising from just 200 in the 1970s to an estimated 20,000 today. But hundreds of prime flats and apartments are now up for sale.

Discounts

Forty-three of the 219 apartments in the 47-storey Beetham Tower on Deansgate were on the market last month - many offering large discounts of up to £40,000 - just a year after residents first moved in.

House prices are falling at their fastest rate since the 1990s, according to the Halifax.

The average property value now stands at £180,344 - down 6.9 per cent in one year.

The number of new mortgage approvals is also at its lowest rate for 15 years. A knock-on effect in the building trade means many jobs being axed.

What do you think? Have your say.

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Showing comments 1 to 16 and replies | View All

I'm not a number (12/07/2008 at 14:16)

Is anyone surprised that these abominations have already turned into the disaster they were always destined to become? The only surprise for me is that it has all crashed into the buffers before the concrete dried?

hodie, wiltshire (12/07/2008 at 15:01)

A home is a basic right not an investment opportunity.Buy to let was a gamble and I have more sympathy whatsoever for the owners of these properties. The real casualties of this price crash are those who have worked and saved to buy a home for themselves and their families.

Marc (12/07/2008 at 15:12)

look at the new builds in harpurhey. most of them have been for sale now for 3 years. in the meantime, the people of harpurhey who've lived there for generations still live in properties that are falling apart. MCC recently sold all its stock to Northwards Housing, the same thing they've done with most of the other parts of the city. to me this just stinks of shirking your responsibility to the population. renovate the existing houses, give the people who live in these areas something to look forward to, and then start building your nasty-looking lego apartments. maybe if the area was actually desirable people might want to move into it.

Guten Tag (12/07/2008 at 15:43)

I don't get this story. Is it saying investors that bought houses they can't rent or sell have just left them completely, or left them until the market picks up? How are they able to do both? Surely there is outstanding mortgage and bills to pay? Maybe this is a ideal time for local councils to compulsory purchase properties for social housing needs then?

naz, Manchester (12/07/2008 at 16:08)

The time to buy is approaching. Slight increase in Mortgage approvals just announced

mancmanomyst, Wythenshawe (12/07/2008 at 17:27)

The time to buy is not nigh. For years house prices have gone up completely out of sink to wages.

The only reason we got away with it was because the banks were prepared to lend huge sums but now the chickens are coming home to roost.

The depression will take a decade to get over

Maggie Thatcher has a lot to answer for. She allowed councils to sell off their houses without any requirement to build more.

Now there will be lots more homeless as they cant afford to pay what private landlords expect to get and there is almost no social housing.

How long will it be before for-profit investment companies start buying housing association stock?

Audenshaw Bob (12/07/2008 at 18:04)

Look at the Beetham Tower (if you must - awful). It is successful as a hotel but I heard that 86 apartments are up for sale.

Look on any night, there are lights on in the hotel rooms but hardly any in the apartments. A white elephant that is trumpeted as 'iconic'. Maybe it is iconic; an icon to failure.

Someone I know has a 1200sq ft apartment in Castlefield. It has been on the market at 10% less than what he paid the builders five years ago and he has had one viewing! In a block of 100 apartments there have been 20 repossesions. The developer sold eight apartments at 40% discount to one bloke and lo and behold he couldn't keep up the mortgages so they were reposessed and sold at 38% of the value everyone else paid, so the average price per sq foot came down and most people are in negative equity. These house builders need more regulation.

Mr Manchester (12/07/2008 at 18:06)

Well said, duke.

ace, manchester (12/07/2008 at 20:32)

Ive noticed that they are still building these newbuilds with this terrible wood and steel that looks terrible after a couple of years.just look at the terrible mess of the appartments around the stadium they look like they need demolishing already and theyve not been built that long ago.

Eveningstar, Withington Manchester (12/07/2008 at 20:38)

Alot of these pokey new build flats are going to become the slums of tomorrow.
If they are deliberately being left unoccupied they should have Compulsory Purchase Orders placed upon them and transferred over to Housing Associations.

MC Spanner (12/07/2008 at 21:47)

If these houses are bought for Social Housing, it will only artificially inflate the house prices for regular home buyers.

The prices will correct in medium term. Sellers are still in disbelief and the prices are too high but as these properties are repossesed and are sold at a discount, the market price will drop.

Tom Venables (12/07/2008 at 21:50)

Hi mancman (yes, you and I know each other elsewhere), "How long will it be before for-profit investment companies start buying housing association stock?" obviously is the other way round, i.e. "How long will it be before *housing associations* start buying *for-profit investment companies [housing] stock?"

James Spencer (13/07/2008 at 10:01)

The figures look like the ones I got from the City Council in April following up on Paul Taylor's MEN article which is here.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1031077_city_can_ride_property_storm
There is one addition figure for the City Centre (Ward) and that is about 7% of properties had paid less that 50% of council tax since they were registered. The usual figure is 75%.
However these numbers must be treated with caution, as they are a snapshot. Many properties are empty in transition between lets or sales and what happens is that the time empty lengthens as demand falls. (and of course discounts increases)
Several internet companies offer the actual prices for which properties have been sold (from the land registry) for a single post code .
The Government has also announced £200M fund to facilitate housing associations buying up "by to let properties" for social housing.

Voice of Sanity (13/07/2008 at 12:08)

Sync not sink !

Audenshaw Bob (13/07/2008 at 16:25)

I meant to say he has had one viewing in 18 months.

ace, manchester (13/07/2008 at 18:56)

Tom Venables
What happens when the grants run out for the housing associations.And they have to maintain the housing stock on rents alone?,then the housing associations will start to sell there stock off to the developers again ?(and around it goes)and who pays ,its the residents again ,no wonder we cannot get communities working again.

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