Recently in South West Category

Savills and Stoford were crowned Wales and South West's property finest at the EG regional awards yesterday. At a sumptuous lunch at Cardiff's Parc Hotel for RICS Wales awards, the pair picked up gongs for property adviser and property company of the year Wales and South West. 

Cardiff has it all. You don't often hear a Bristol agent say that. He was talking about an arena for the city and how Bristol needs a big venue now.

You only need to look at the crowds for the six nations rugby the other weekend in Cardiff to see what the benefits could be.

The march of the supermarkets seems unstoppable.

Money deals are always good news in today's cash strapped times so great to hear that  Brewary Square Development Company has secured £14m from Bank of London and The Middle East for its Dorchester regeneration project.

The money will go towards construction of phase two - there are six phases in total - of the Brewary Square scheme which will comprise 64 homes and 14 commercial units. Crucially, and I'm sure a contributing factor to the signing of the cheque, 75% of the residential space has be forward sold and a number of the commercial units are pre-let to fashion retailers.

* Keep an eye out on the Focus blog later in the week for our Hampshire and Dorset Focus synopsis and coverage of our Southampton reception which is being held on Wednesday

The title of Savills residential report today says it all "Mapping the great divide".

Savills has stuck its marker in the sand today and forecast where it thinks regional house prices will be by 2015. Sadly, all the minus numbers are in the north and the pluses are all in the south.

But growth, even in the south east, is some way below what it was at the peak. In Cambridgeshire transaction levels are 77% what they were at the peak. Barnsley meanwhile is the worst performer.  It says that availability of finance and how much affordability of mortgages is dented by interest rate rises will continue to limit any house price growth.

UPDATE: Savills have just told us about an error on the graphic below. For Burnley there should be no '+' next to the figure of transaction levels compared to the pre-crunch peak  (ie: transactions in Burnley are actually down 72%). 

Click on the image below to view a larger version of the map.

Development
Analysis of the next generation of development projects
Contact: Simon Jack, freelance writer, 01225 444 780
simon@sdjack.freeserve.co.uk
 
Public Sector
Analysis the Enterprise Zone proposals
Contact: David Thame, freelance writer 01544 262 896
dthame@clara.co.uk

Agency
Analysis of the agency landscape
Contact: David Thame, freelance writer 01544 262 896
dthame@clara.co.uk

Market health check
If you have stats up to Q2 2011 for retail, industrial or offices for Bath, Swindon and Bristol please email Stacey.meadwell@estatesgazette.com









 

South West agency Alder King celebrated its centenary last week with a bash for 350 staff and clients at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

The firm was set up in 1911 by Stanley Arnold Alder becoming Alder King in the 80s when Lloyds bank bought the firm together with estate agent King Miles. The current equity partnership bought back the commercial arm of the business in 1991.

 By Charlotte Ojinnaka

An all too prominent feature of London's skyline is the obstinate cranes which seem to have made themselves permanent residents as development continues to thrive. But outside the capital the cranes have become something of an endangered species.

CB Richard Ellis thinks that should change and it's residential development hot spots report points to some surprising regional locations (click through on the continue reading link below for the full list of locations or click UK residential development hotspots - June 11.pdf for the complete hotspots map).

Richmondshire in North Yorkshire, a staggering 240 miles from the lofty cranes in London, makes it to number five spot proving that development can happen outside the capital. Richmondshire's good employment prospects and high house price growth make it an attractive development prospect.