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What Slow Down? No sign in East Anglia
Added: (Wed May 07 2008)
Whilst the credit crunch is felt acutely by those struggling on the first rung of the property ladder, those of us who remember the ‘90’s will know that the conditions then were very different to those of today. The current climate of relatively low unemployment and low interest rates has resulted in far more confidence in many residential sectors and in the commercial and leisure markets.
Roger Gilles of Barefoot and Gilles writes:
“In Ipswich the commercial market is growing steadily with interest being shown from the nationals and from Europe. We are currently involved in a new office building for MSC and have recently submitted an application for 50,000 sq. ft of B1 office accommodation in the Orwell Retail Park. Our clients in the leisure sectors are actively looking for Health Club and Hotel opportunities whilst we have recently been appointed to explore the opportunities for mixed development on a vacant Department Store site.
“Opportunities for student accommodation remain centre stage in Ipswich and we are just about to complete one hall of residence and start another.
“Whilst complacency is dangerous and we have felt the need to step up our site-finding programme, the current ‘crunch’ seems to be affecting very specific market sectors. Generally the picture is that of steady activity.”