Hi,

I am one of the 'lucky' individuals that has managed to put a deposit on one of the Eclipse development one bed apartments. I originally thought that the development would take 8-12 months. Now Blundells have told me that the development is now planned at 2 years??

What do you think of my investment? will the prices go up once the development has finished?

Any feedback regarding the development is great!


Dan

I suppose the risk is will people will still be wanting the apartments in 2 years time, a lot of other ones will have been built before then.

I had a look at the plans they sent me through and was appalled at the tiny size of the rooms and apartments in general.

I was also astonished at the prices. FROM £134K for the lowest level two bedroomed apartment, and each time you go up a floor add an extra £2K.

No thanks.

having spoken to a few estate agents recently, people are really struggling to sell on 'city living' apartments. It may be the case soon that it is cheaper to buy one of the existing ones than buying a new one off plan.

Rental yields are also falling as landlords who want to avoid empty flats are reducing rents to a more realistic level.

have heard that they are really stugglnig the prices you see in the paper for apartments for sales are stuck in there to creat the illusion that they are stil popular. My bet is Eclipse will go same way won't be able to sell no one will want to rent.

Now you've got me worried, I am an expat in Bahrain who, along with a friend have put down a deposit on an appartment each. We're both getting 'cold feet' - are the prospects for this so bad? I feel it might be difficult to sell upon completion and equally difficult to cover the mortgage with any rent.


Originally posted by danielford99
Hi,

I am one of the 'lucky' individuals that has managed to put a deposit on one of the Eclipse development one bed apartments. I originally thought that the development would take 8-12 months. Now Blundells have told me that the development is now planned at 2 years??

What do you think of my investment? will the prices go up once the development has finished?

Any feedback regarding the development is great!


Dan

I think there is a lot of vested interests in talking the market up.
Lot of unrealistic requirements about rent as well. The appartments are tiny and there are only so many yuppies. The point about Sheffield is you can buy or rent decent sized house for not much more and within 15 minutes of the city centre.

I think the market is reaching saturation and the only way to go is for students.

Where are all these so called hoardes of professionals? Sheffield is not Leeds.

big risk in current market

apartments on leppings lane hillsborough were sold off plan for £125k

now on sale for £110 and still on, been on 2 months from what ive seen.

dangerous waters IMHO

dangerous waters for some, I agree. But there will be good opportunities to get knock down prices from builders later in the year.

Also, people who jumped on the 'buy off plan, get rich quick' bandwagon at the top of the market will start accepting offers way below what they paid for fear that there is further to fall.

The next scenario to look out for will be developments being put on hold as the demand withers.....let see if the Cala Eclipse development ever happens!!

Its a classic example of the bubble market.

Some wonderful new thing is invented that is going to change everything (previously it has been the internet, now city living), and initially there are benefits, but it is hyped as the saviour of many more ills than it could ever save.

It expands to a price way beyond what it is really worth, and eventually either settles down steadily to a realistic level or crashes catastrophically before slowly building up to a realistic level.

Obviously the general housing boom and very low interest rates have added to it.

Dear All,

I am one of the people who have purchased an apartment at the Eclipse development to rent out and I write to inform people how pleased I am with this purchase. When I first heard of a 23 storey apartment block for Sheffield I knew the apartment would be a good investment. I have purchased property in the city centre from plan many times and everytime I have let the apartments at very high yields. I have found the key is to choose the correct development to buy in.

Isn't it about time Sheffield had a city centre to rival Leeds or Manchester, this kind of dynamic development is required to move us ahead. It seems Sheffield still has a majority of people who want to denigrate new development, keep us in the dark ages and would be happy for us all to go out to make steel everyday! Developments like this provide economic growth to a once downtrodden city. All these insults of prices and sizing shows very little vision from people in Sheffield.

Originally posted by greensheff
Dear All,

I am one of the people who have purchased an apartment at the Eclipse development to rent out and I write to inform people how pleased I am with this purchase. When I first heard of a 23 storey apartment block for Sheffield I knew the apartment would be a good investment. I have purchased property in the city centre from plan many times and everytime I have let the apartments at very high yields. I have found the key is to choose the correct development to buy in.

Isn't it about time Sheffield had a city centre to rival Leeds or Manchester, this kind of dynamic development is required to move us ahead. It seems Sheffield still has a majority of people who want to denigrate new development, keep us in the dark ages and would be happy for us all to go out to make steel everyday! Developments like this provide economic growth to a once downtrodden city. All these insults of prices and sizing shows very little vision from people in Sheffield.

I'm no expert by any means, but isn't it sensible for these sorts of developments to cater for economic growth rather than try to create it?

In any case, I've been around a few of these city centre apartments in Sheffield and the majority are cheaply built and have all the personality and warmth of the office I'm sitting in right now. I'm not convinced the demand is there to fill them all, nor am I impressed by the designs on offer when compared to developments in Leeds and Manchester. They just look so dull in comparison.

May I congratulate you on your over-priced, under-sized investment.

Please don't take this as an insult, it's just my opinion.

I think the worst thing about city living flats is the extra charges piled on top. Very few first timers ever consider the ground rent and service charge that is a significant part of monthly outgoings. Better buy a house!

Originally posted by sicubitt
I think the worst thing about city living flats is the extra charges piled on top. Very few first timers ever consider the ground rent and service charge that is a significant part of monthly outgoings. Better buy a house!

I agree, a friend of mine purchased a apartment in the city centre last year for approx £160,000 i think. But on top of his mortgage he has to pay an extra £120 per month in service charges.

Service charges are such a rip off.

£1k and upwards pa for sweet FA

Well you forget the small matters of maintenance, insurance, common areas, security, parking, sinking fund, etc, etc, etc.

Few management charges are at a profit of any significance.

It's why developers often give the management company back to the residents so they can sort out their own mess ;)