Housing shortage ‘will spark price rises’

Liverpool is set to experience a lack of supply which will result in residential prices increasing again in the coming years, according to King Sturge.

Neil Chegwidden, a partner at King Sturge in London, will address a conference of North West investors in Liverpool on Friday. He said: "2007 saw the height of development activity across the three Northern England regions where 44,500 residential units were built compared to 23,350 in 2009. With population figures increasing year on year, this basic analysis suggests that residential development will have to return to and then surpass the levels seen at the height of the recent development boom, in order to meet projected demand."

The public event has been organised by international property group Grosvenor and is taking place at its One Park West apartment scheme in Liverpool One, developed by Grosvenor and for which King Sturge is the agent.

Chegwidden added: "It will be interesting to see how residential developers, financiers, planners and local authorities rise to this challenge, because unless they do, it is likely there will be a significant upward pressure on residential prices given the anticipated and widening gap between demand and supply.

"This is a positive indicator for potential buyers who could see good capital growth from their property if they invest in Liverpool's current residential offering.

"Residential property in the UK has delivered investment returns well in excess of UK shares over the past 39 years and, despite the near-term outlook for housing, we expect strong performance from the residential sector over the medium term."

Over recent years the population of Liverpool has stabilised after decades of decline and now stands at around 450,000. The population of the city region as a whole, incorporating Wirral, Sefton, St Helens, Knowsley and Halton, is about 1.5m.

The Office for National Statistics forecasts the city's population will reach 473,000 by 2029 with the number of over-60s predicted to soar to 91,000, making up one-fifth of the city's residents by 2017.

The Investors Day event takes place on Friday 26 March 2010, 2pm-5pm and features expert speakers Guy Butler, Grosvenor, Neil Chegwidden, Steve Hogg and Martyn Green, from King Sturge and Matthew Carragher, from Savills Private Finance.

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Nice to see Cheggers has a career after swap shop.

By Maggie

Lack of supply? I sense a bit of desperate marketing going on here by King Sturge. Firstly, the population of Liverpool is actually decreasing at the moment and secondly, the sentence about being a good time to invest in Liverpool’s current residential offering is estate agent talk. It’s common knowledge that the local market, especially in the city-centre is saturated by apartments which can’t sell.

By Merseyman

Is it Merseyman or Manchesterman???
You seem to take great pleasure in talking down our fantastic city!!

By Merseyman???

I’ve every interest in promoting our city and take great pride in the renewed optimism – however what can’t be denied is the abundance of apartment over-supply in the city-centre. Many of these ‘exclusive’ newbuilds are heavily reliant upon future development, investment and inward migration…all I suggest is a little caution towards more apartments and more private sector support to existing out of town initiatives such as HMR and the more deprived areas of the city.

By Merseyman

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