Sales holding up at One Park West, says Grosvenor
Grosvenor has completed 55 apartment sales and is continuing to shift stock at the rate of one every ten to 14 days, according to sales and letting agent Martyn Green, partner at King Sturge Residential in Liverpool.
The sales figure is greater than that produced by a Land Registry search, which shows five sales at 31 and 37 Strand Street, the formal address for the scheme, at an average price of £182,664.
A spokeswoman for Grosvenor said this was due to the time lag of three months on Land Registry details being registered. The building completed in December 2008, when buyers who put down reservations during construction would have been obliged to complete.
Green said: "Around five people a week are moving into the buildings and we expect that to continue through the summer."
Prices have been held at March 2008 levels, Green said, on the 17-storey Cesar Pelli-designed building, the largest in Liverpool One, containing 326 flats.
Studios start at £99,000; a one-bed flat is £150,000; two-beds cost between £175,000 and £300,000, depending on floor height and views; and three-beds start at £320,000.
All of the three-bed flats have now been sold and Green believes the building, next to Chavasse Park, remains successful despite the recession due to a number of factors. "Location, security and the Grosvenor badge gives buyers that degree of comfort," he explained.
Typical buyers are cash-rich people able to adapt to the current mortgage market, which tends not to like high-rise city centre apartments any more, Green added.
Investors have not snapped up large quantities of the units. The largest transaction was for seven flats and there were two deals for three flats each.
Grosvenor is also offering 30 apartments for rent to help drive the occupancy levels and Green said around three tenants are signing up each week. Rental prices range from £475 to £925 a month.
Green also said that contrary to market gossip there have been no cases of people walking away from deals after putting down their reservations two years ago and failing to complete.