According to nethouseprices.com the following house sold on 25/08/2004 for £130k. At the end of 2004 the house was back on the market for £225k and recently reduced to £215k!! This house is on Hollywood Ave which is in Gosforth a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne and five years ago these were selling for less than £75k! A complete joke, price marked up by £95k in a couple of months and for what? Walls painted in magnolia and a B&Q kitchen!! House does not even have a driveway let alone a garage.

Forth Park Residential

Anyone here on HPC living in Newcastle? If so send me a msg!

Regards

Neil

I dont live there, but its my home town and i moved down to surrey from newcastle about 3 years ago.

Price increases there have been nothing short of amazing... case in point, a friend of mine bought a 3 bed small semi (wafer thin walls) for about 60k about 4 years ago... sold this year for about 150k. The same houses were sold originally for about 35k about 6 years ago.

Needless to say, i still get the impression that the majority of people in the north think a crash is 'something that happens in the south' and i know plenty of people who are still thinking nothing of offering at or above asking prices for grotty dumps in rough areas.

Its very much still madness up there

I am also an exiled Geordie. It's the current housing market in the NE that has led me to take an interest in this site. I'd have to agree that the locals have never seen anything like this, the last boom/bust came nowhere near it. If you're thinking of buying - don't!

I actually live near the house in question - looks like a classic post-Property Ladder investment vehicle, with the only thing going for it being the proximity to a good school.

The North East market is completely out of kilter with any economic sense. I wasn't in a position to take out any mortgage until last year, but gave up actively looking for a FTB after prices in not so desirable areas lost all grip on reality. For example, I had a fish about on Net House Prices & found a house on Croydon Road, Arthurs Hill that sold for £31,740 in June 2001 & again at £120,000 a couple of months ago. I know someone who lives nearby and they had their door kicked in while they were sleeeping the other day - not exactly what you want for a mortgage that is 6 times the average regional salary, eh!?!

Personally, I think it'll crash hardest in the North this time round. We don't have a very strong local economy at the best of times (e.g. over 3000 redundancies announced last month), never mind strong enough to support this level of price growth. Things may look a bit 1992 up here by 2007...

Could not agree more! You mention 'the average regional salary', I wonder what it actually is for Tyne and Wear? My guess would be less than £15k a year!

It's difficult to find a straight answer to this one, but the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister reported a mean gross weekly wage of £410 for Newcastle in 2002, compared to an average of £439 across all core cities (see Competitive European Cities: Where do the Core Cities Stand? ), which translates to £21.3K gross salary in Newcastle compared to £22.8K across all core cities. This would be skewed by a small number of high earners (e.g. footballers, directors, judges etc.) - a quick look through this week's jobs supplement points to £15-18K being much more realistic, with around £12K being the norm for call centre jobs. Not much compared to asking prices, eh!?!

The jobs section of the local evening paper I find pretty poor, unless you’re looking for something within the NHS or perhaps the local authority. I had a look at the website for Northern Rock who claim to be one of the largest employers in the North East, they are paying a salary of £17649 for a Senior Management Information Analyst or £12594 for a Call Centre Team Leader and £10400 for a Customer Service Adviser. I also checked out the website for Sage the accountancy software firm another major employer in the region where there are many vacancies listed only no mention of salary. Salaries in the region are pretty poor and certainly lower than the national average.



You're spot on! How could someone employed by Northern Rock expect to be able to afford the poor example posted at the top of this thread, which just so happens to be within walking distance of the Northern Rock Head Office.

The supply of housing within the region has certainly increased over the last five years, new developments have been popping up all over Newcastle. I would love to be able to quote a precise figure my guess would be in the tens of thousands for the number of new dwellings in and around Newcastle. One of the latest, a development for key workers and students has more than 700 dwellings, close to the city centre near Manors just up from Newcastle’s famous quayside, this alone shall have a negative impact on the Newcastle rental market where in my opinion there is already massive oversupply.

I guess one could argue that the regional economy is stronger and unemployment has fallen over the last five years, but is our economy stronger today? I’m trying to think of the many quality employment opportunities that have been created over the period that shall benefit our local economy into the long-term, but I can’t think of any! Looking forward if house prices do go into reverse, what shall be the impact on our consumer driven regional economy?????

Any one living in the Newcastle upon tyne ?

In answer to the question no. I spoke to some FTB and they said the North East of
England is a sh!thole and just wasn't posh enough for them to buy there

To working class.

I think you mean "too" working class. Are you not posh enough to have a spell checker?

You are spot on in your assessment of the North East. I would like to confirm to all the Southerners on the board, that the North East is awful. You really wouldn't like it up here, and you should stay down South. In fact, don't even bother to visit. There's nothing here for you.

Sage tend to pay a bit better than Northern Rock for call centre work, which was where the £12K came from. I completely agree with you about that house, which illustrates the discrepancy between income & asking price perfectly. The whole estate isn't that old & looks like it was built to house modest white collar families working nearby. I'd guess that then, relatively, the main breadwinner wouldn't have been too distant on the salary scale from the type of responsibility someone would have in that Senior Management Information Analyst job you saw advertised for less than £18K!

Newcastle has also had loads of external BTL investment (perhaps off the back of the City of Culture bid?), which has especially pushed new build flats to ridiculous levels - I've heard that there is a serious glut of empty city centre flats at the moment. Found this gem on a letting agent site the other day, warning would be investors back in August 2003 that things were a bit saturated then, never mind now: -

Acorn Properties - Info for Investors

Mind you, the local media, as ever, refuse to say anything is less than rosey in the property market: -

Some good signs in the early spring

I particularly like the line about lighter nights improving property sales!

I like the title 'Residential Property as an Investment', do these clowns no the meaning of the word 'investment'! I shall be amazed if anyone who climbed aboard the BTL bandwagon within recent years is actually getting a return on their investment! As my friend above says there is a serious glut of empty properties within Newcastle all available to rent, anyone here had a drive around Jesmond of late and counted the number of boards.

Please check out the following links for one of Gosforth's most recent developments Knightsbridge Court, a favourite of mine just look how many are up For Sale. I can purchase one of these for £210k or I can rent the same property for £625 a month!

Go to the following link and enter 'Knightsbridge Court' for the street and then click <search>

For Sale - Knightsbridge Court

Then go to the following link and enter 'Knightsbridge Court' for the street and the click <search>

To Rent - Search for Knightsbridge Court

I can't believe that people think the above represents a good investment!

I wondered just how much of the Knightsbridge Court development was snapped up by people off plan trying to making a fast buck - looking at the Pattinson site certainly answered that question and I can see some fingers getting seriously burned there! Terrible setting for any decent quality of life - next door to a school & a train track, round the corner from a major office complex & looking out on to a busy dual carriageway. The asking price suddenly makes that house down the road look relatively alright, eh!?!

I've also noticed a lot more boards around in Heaton all year round, which is surprising given the high student population there. More 'To Sale or To Let' boards are creeping in too and we all know what that means!

I was talking to someone recently who's been doing BTL for years and he's seriously considering getting out now, mainly due to oversupply rather than anything else. In fact, he reckoned it was too many amateur BTLs at the end of the last boom that sped up the decline of Newcastle's west end in the nineties. Once the market turned, many of the amateur landlords struggled to fill places & couldn't sell either, so they started letting to anyone they could. This inevitably brought in problem tenants, who drove many of the more peaceful inhabitants away and set off a spiral of decay. Within a couple of years the area had sunk into a lawless, burnt out mess and by the back end of the decade, pairs of flats in Benwell were being sold off for a quid! Sounds plausible when you think it through - just hope it doesn't get that bad again...

I've been away for a while, but surely the west end was never a good place to have a rental property??

The west end's obviously never going to be the safest place to own property in Newcastle, never mind let! However, things have improved a lot with CCTV etc.

Despite all the problems though, prices seem to have risen the highest in the west end compared to anywhere else. Many old school landlords have offloaded some complete rubbish to BTL novices recently at stupid prices. Scarily, some of this is still selling - this pair of flats sold for £80K at last month's Pattinson auction and would have been around £10-20K not so long ago!

Gerald Street, Benwell

Here's last month's auction results in full

Pattinson Auction Results - March 2005

A lot of dodgy stuff there. I presume auction is a last resort for places they can't sell or need to sell quickly. If so the numbers should rise and prices fall quicker than the rest of the market.

Maybe this is where the jobs have come from:

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0100new...-name_page.html

An excellent find! A former colleague of mine who took early retirement in 2003 took a public sector job at Longbenton, they gave him a one week long course in-house, then a week later he was making decisions and dishing out thousands of pounds worth of benefits! He ended up leaving after a short time, but he descibes the set up as a complete joke and talks of what a mess this once great nation of ours is in!

I wonder what the average wage is for the public sector within the North East?

I wouldn't have any idea with that, but public sector wage figures are probably public information if you know where to find them.

I suppose these jobs are low paid but secure (as long as labour is returned)

Not sure how secure some of these public sector jobs are, actually. I know someone working for an agency who manages several quite large teams of temp admin staff working across the public sector in the North East - they're paid peanuts for paper shuffling and he's been told to be ruthless on hiring & firing if he has any problems with staff. Most IT in Longbenton seems to be outsourced now and support services such as catering/cleaning etc. have been going that way for years - don't know who'll be left directly employed for the Government at this rate!

Anyway, on a complete tangent - I saw a new estate agent has opened up in Gosforth!!! Bradley Hall have a new 'Executive' Agency open just off the High Street - despite the overpriced rubbish they had in the window, there were a few listed as sold already! I have noticed a few new Sold SSTC boards in gardens around Gosforth, but the market's not exactly crying out for more EAs yet. Took a walk through Jesmond yesterday and things weren't looking so rosey, especially in terms of rentals - most students are usually sorted for next year by now & there are loads of boards everywhere. Saw a couple of auction boards creeping in too - and we all know what that means

Thats a worrying article there, and the comparrison with soviet bloc countries being nearly the same as the NE with regards to their dependance on the public sector .... wow.

When taxes are raised or spending cut - i wonder how the NE will do?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,...1582905,00.html

I sold up from west jesmond last year after 5 years there, prices are indeed mad but those to let signs are always up 12 months of the year so that is not necessarily indicative of loads of unlet flats/houses.

I'm with Quietobserver on this one, when out running I run through West Jesmond and have done so for many years, since the beginning of this year something changed, there has never been so many boards! Streets lined with 'For Sale' and 'To Let' boards, streets such as Forsyth Road or Lavender Gardens. Don't believe me then go take a look!

Fair do's. Its been a year since I was in Newcastle - I remember the signs used to annoy me as they make the place look a complete dump.
I just had a quick look on rightmove at 2 bed downstairs tynside flats (what I had). Prices seem to have continued to go up in the last 12 months - crazy - surely the weathy students parents will stop buying there soon, its ludacriously overpriced!

Anyone know anything about the Crosby development in Gosforth on the former P&G site. I skirt it on my way to Seghill, the two days a week I work there. I know there was fierce opposition from local residents, especially those on The Drive. Are these houses selling?

Don't know much, but I believe the first phase sold very quickly - perhaps due to them coming on sale last year. Looks like subsequent phases weren't so lucky, as there are still new ones for sale on the Crosby Site and I expect a few bought by the off plan brigade to start appearing soon like this one here - looks like it's never been lived in!

Having said that, I walk past the place regularly and there does seem to be quite a few people living in it, despite the ongoing building works and it's certainly a lot more desirable than that new block near Asda (discussed earlier in the thread)!

Update:Got the glossy Sanderson Young brochure through my door yesterday. They print this every 6 months and put it through the doors in Gosforth, Jesmond etc. Probably charge an extra 1% comission to pay for it . Noticed a couple of Crosby places for sale already, also some on the Great North Park development. Can't have been lived in for a year yet, and truly ridiculous prices.

The other thing I noticed was that there were a few properties in the brochure that would normally not make it in. Sanderson Young tout themselves as being a cut above the rest, only offering the best etc. Well there was some right sh*te in there. There seemed to be quite a few vacant possessions, too. I also noticed Marsden Hall has not sold yet, that was in the last brochure 6 months ago. Taken together this may be indicative of a slowdown in Newcastle.

Noticed on my way to work this morning, Chartered Surveyor office has opened at the bottom of Salters Road, opposite The Gosforth Hotel. This used to be a solicitor. There also seem to be some house pictures in the window, so they are perhaps also doing some Estate Agency "work" on the side. Ho hum, perhaps the Newcastle market is still bouyant.

With regards to the earlier comments about Knightsbridge Court, I'm currently living in a similar sort of development (Sovereign Court and Regency Court) in the southeast corner of Jesmond. I've seen a couple of two bedroom flats for sale at around 190K, whilst the rents are around 650 - 750 per month.

For some reason, my landlord is very keen for me to stay too.

Graeme

Just been browsing the Pattinson auction results for April and it looks like several properties have sold, but the selling price hasn't been declared. The strange thing is that when you click on the link for one of these property's details, it looks like the property has actually been withdrawn, rather than sold - is something fishy going on here, or what!?!

Pattinson April Auction Results

Have they finished 'curzon place' next to the newly built hilton on gateshead side of the tyne bridge yet?

.... seems like that place has been 'in progress' for about 4 years now - for a residential development that beggars belief surely?

Before i 'emigrated' these places were being sold off plan for 100-130k ... now it seems like prices are around 200k

Heard an interesting story at the weekend. Friend of a friend is an amateur BTLer. He has recently purchased a house on the Gosforth former-P&G site development. He has tenants in and is renting it out for £800/month. However, his mortgage costs are £1200/month!

Hows it going?

I'm from the newcastle area and have been waiting confidently and patiently for HP's to drop.

I've been keeping an eye out on pattinson.co.uk at the auctions and have talked about it previously here:

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...wtopic=7728&hl=

houses simply are not selling at auctions either, everything is overpriced, and there are far to many new estates simply not selling.

Take Northumberland Park / Holyfields at Shiremoor.

Both estates are still under construction
I drive past there everyday and the houses simply aren't selling.

There has been far to many people looking to make a fast buck by buying off plan and selling once the property is completed.

Now they are stuck as they cant sell them

there is one way for prices in newcastle

DOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWN
OWNDOWNDOWNDOWNDOWN

Hi Favre - I remember your post! I'm still not sure what it means when a property is listed as sold, but no price is listed next to it - any ideas?

It may be they have been removed from the website.
Isn't the sale price public information?
Would be worth seeing how far below asking they are going for.

Whilst in Newcastle today I noticed yet another new development, built by Persimmon it's called 'The Bar' and has been built on what is basically a roundabout opposite The Centre for Life. Big Banner down the side of the building advertising 143 Luxury appartments For Sale, 'Selling Fast' the banner says!!

Checked the persimmon website and prices start at £152000 for a one bedroom appartment and from £174500 for a two bedroom.

I wonder how many luxury appartments have been built in the centre of Newcastle or along the quayside in recent years? It must be several thousand, perhaps this helps explain the surplus of rental properties in Jesmond.

Fantastic views of the dual carrigeway, lack of any sensible amenities other than 2-4-1 bars, kebab shops and boarded up cash and carries.

Wonders never cease in the 'toon' - im still waiting to see more than 10 flats with lights on at 28 degrees north every time im up!

Don't forget 'Sven Adult Books' at least I think it's still there, imagine being on your balcony and listening to all that road traffic breathing in all that pollution! £174500 they are having a laugh! Two years from now they shall be selling at auction for less than £80k! Remind please what the average salary is Newcastle upon Tyne, I think we agreed on £17k-18k a year! Let us not forget the rental market for which there is already a massive oversupply of properties in Newcastle, can't see these two bedroom apartments achieving more than £500 a month if they are lucky enough to find a tenant!

Great news. I'm planning to rent in N/E next year. Looks like I might get a good deal.

Checked out ‘Curzon Place’ Today and this development is far from finished, especially if you check around the back! I would guess in the region of 150 plus apartments under construction, no banners advertising For Sale or naming the developer only ‘Tolent’ construction. The weird thing was the lack of activity, I counted four workmen at the front and nobody around the back, the site was deserted!

Then I moved on to Blenheim Street and the City Quadrant Development which includes a Residential section and five levels of apartments, looking at the website I would say approx 50 units many of which appear to have been sold off plan!

City Quadrant

Next it was across the other side of the city and onto Melbourne Street behind Tyne Tees Television where we find a number of new developments. First it was ‘Rialto’ 53 luxury apartments currently under construction with ‘Amec’, opposite another large residential development no clues as to exactly what. Continuing east we then have the massive ‘Quay Point’ 700 dwellings for both key workers and students! A short distance onto Breamish Street and I find Lime Square under construction 104 luxury apartments, 3 penthouses and 4 city houses! Not too sure who the developer is but they have a website.

Lime Square

The other thing that struck me today was the amount of commercial office space under construction and available To Let, for example next to the centre for life and down on the quayside behind the law courts I find Trinity Gardens a massive office and retail development! Just what Newcastle needs at the moment more shopping malls and more empty offices!

Don't forget the Conran designed City Lofts, near the Marriott Hotel down on the Quayside, can't find a link to the company, but 1&2 bed being sold in the price range £165000-290000.

I think you mean the ones opposite the Copthorne Hotel see the link below. Where are all the people coming from to live in all these new apartments?

City Lofts

Yes, those are the ones. I know of a "property developer" who has put a deposit down on one. Don't know him that well, so no specifics, I do wonder what his yield will be, assuming no voids. My impression is that he has remortgaged on the rest of his portfolio to put the deposit down, so in effect he will have a 100% mortgage. i would also imagine the service charge on these places would be quite hefty. I might be wrong, what would I know, I just work for a living, but it doesn't exactly seem the soundest "investment" given all the bad news re:the economy and housing market.

I for one have never been able to see the appeal of 55 Degrees North, the building itself does nothing for the city centre skyline, with 165 apartments within the development I decided to take a closer look and with just two estate agents find a staggering 21 For Sale!! Sanderson Young list 11 and Pattinson list 10! Pattinson also list 9 available To Let. Presumably this is just the tip of the iceberg, how many would I find for 55 Degrees North should one search every estate agent in Newcastle? This does not bode well for the market with a forever growing supply of luxury apartments within Newcastle!

Sanderson Young

My prediction is for house price falls of 50% in Newcastle upon Tyne, over the past five years the local economy has been driven by consumer spending fed from a booming property market and low interest rates. With the feel good factor now fading and manufacturing still in recession, the economy is going into reverse with no light at the end of the tunnel! Over the period the supply of residential dwellings has increased significantly within the region and continues to rise with new developments everywhere. So with increased supply, wavering demand and a regional economy that is going backwards why would anyone even consider paying anything above year 2000 prices for property? Lets face it this is nothing more than a Bubble and it’s on course to Burst!!! The North-East may have got off likely in the last crash, but the bulls are right about one thing this time it really is different, I expect Newcastle to come off far worse than other parts of the country.

Please discuss and tell me that I’m wrong! I can’t believe that we have no property bulls from Newcastle reading this thread, a local BTL investor out there maybe, what about an Estate Agent (Jan Forster are you there?), or a Mortgage Broker.

The penny wont drop in newcastle till the very last minute i dont think. I'd say im part of the new generation of financially thick people who cant remember the last recession but are in prime buying age right now - and it just doesnt seem to be sinking in that its not 'all good' as many of my peers seem to think it is.

A place like newcastle seems to be reborn on the back of some misguided idea that it can support some kind of cosmopolitan 'cafe culture' nu-economy. Unfortunately there seems to be a world of difference between opinions in the south versus those in the north. Down here my colleagues are buying houses, but cautiously so........... as opposed to my friends in newcastle who think an asking price is just a starting point for a bidding war, and dont seem to realise that its not worth paying southern prices for houses in areas where getting your door kicked in on the average friday night is a high possibility.

Wholly negative thoughts but until something drastic happens, i honestly dont see opinions and buying patterns changing anytime soon - the NE seems to believe anything Tony and Co feed to them.

I mentioned this on another thread today, but I bought in 2000, and at that time felt things were way overvalued, for what is essentially a Northern town, bereft of manufacturing, not a financial centre like Leeds/Manchester, not a real tourist attraction (unless you count brain-dead dullards on stag/hen nights). Since then things have just climbed higher and higher, and it is not unusual to see properties with Million pound price tags. I cannot see what is supporting the frankly ridiculous prices in this city.

Hot Off The Press!!
Latest News 16 May 2005
(copied from the Sanderson Young Website, link below)
Sanderson Young - Latest News - Lime Square

Launch of Phase 2 of Lime Square development - wine and canape evenings on Tuesday 24th May 6-9pm and Thursday 26th May 6-9pm in the Marketing Squite above the Quayside office.

Prices from £165,000 and with each reservation that exchanges on or before 31st July we will be giving away a Free Mini Cooper S. So you buy the apartment, the parking space and have a car to put in it. It’s a great offer with no ties and is only available for the 14 apartments we are releasing on the 24th.


I’m free on the 24th May perhaps I should pop along and hand out some hpc.co.uk literature!

There are definitely some people (fools) who continue to believe that BTL in the region is viable!!