By Marcus Blake, Regional Managing Director at Berkeley St Joseph
An interesting property trend was singled out by The Times newspaper at the end of 2021; swathes of people regretting their so-called “pandemic property purchase”. After a year when lockdowns and social distancing measures saw a mass exodus towards the suburbs, the ‘race for space’ has come to a grinding halt, with buyers making a proverbial u-turn and heading back towards urban centres.
Other articles and industry commentators further corroborate the trend. Rightmove had reported as early as April 2021 that buyer demand for flats stood 51% above pre-pandemic levels in 2020, when bigger properties and family homes were the most sought after. Meanwhile, exclusive figures recently gathered by the Guardian indicate that thousands more people are now choosing to live in the country’s biggest city centres since the start of the pandemic – mostly in flats.
What’s even more revealing is that off-plan purchases (i.e. made before construction) are booming outside of the capital – and Birmingham is leading the charge. According to figures from Hampton estate agents, 61% of new homes were sold off-plan in the Second City in 2021, followed by Liverpool (60%), Manchester (58%) and Leeds (45%).
Flex & the city
Despite being repeatedly told for the past two years that multiple lockdowns and the rise of home working would have a profound impact on city living as we know it, it isn’t surprising to hear that flats in urban centres are once again in such high demand.
The reason for these properties’ popularity is simple – apartments remain a crucial component of the city living lifestyle, synonymous with flexibility, urban mobility and cosmopolitanism. It takes more than a global pandemic to taint the romanticised vision that people have of a thriving city.
The perks of living in a place such as Birmingham are difficult to ignore, especially for students and young professionals. Bars, cafes, restaurants, theatres, city parks and 24-hour grocery shops all factor into the daily fabric of Millennials and Gen-Zedders’ lives. Better public transport links and the gradual widespread pedestrianisation of city centres means there is no need to
invest in a car. And a city with over one million inhabitants allows you to create and nurture a bigger and far more diverse social network than a more peripheral town would.
Some would even argue that living in a city actually offers a better work-life balance and a more comfortable standard of living (a 2021 study from Shawbrook Bank ranked Birmingham as one of the top 10 UK cities for work-life balance). By having their apartment located a short walk or a quick tram ride away from the workplace, employees are able to make more spontaneous decisions about how often to work in the office throughout the week, when an out-of-town commute allows less flexibility.
Strong lifestyle offerings
Birmingham offers a lot of the benefits and qualities associated with urban living, especially when it comes to flats. As a city experiencing sustained business growth and demographic expansion, there are a number of apartment schemes currently underway across some of Birmingham’s most scenic urban settings, whether it’s canalside or the growing number of gentrified quarters.
Since its arrival in 2017, one of Berkeley St Joseph’s key commitments has been to raise the bar for Birmingham’s residential development, introducing a standard of urban placemaking that lives up to the expectations of people keen to embrace city living.
Berkeley St Joseph’s first community in the city, Snow Hill Wharf, a collection of five canalside apartment buildings in the city’s historic Gun Quarter, evokes images of the attractive metropolitan lifestyle that has lured relocators back to the city over the past year.
Featuring a variety of amenities (including a residents’ lounge, 24-hour concierge service, cinema room, sauna and gym), Snow Hill Wharf incorporates New York loft style duplexes mixed with dark bronze ironmongery interiors into its design, selling a modern vision of urban living. Its central location – within walking distance from stores, restaurants, offices and public transport hubs – only accentuates its urban appeal.
Glasswater Locks, Berkeley’s upcoming mixed-use development located in Birmingham’s Education Quarter, also caters to young home seekers looking to embrace city living. Mixed-use developments blend residential and commercial uses into one space, enabling people to more easily integrate their work, home and social lives – the perfect balance for students who will eventually go onto starting new careers in the city.
Back for good?
We’re in a very different place to where we were in 2020. While the pandemic was enough to convince some to abandon urban centres for a more socially-distanced existence in the suburbs or countryside, the appeal of a fast-paced, multicultural city in constant expansion has been too good a proposition to turn down for others. Some people want the urban lifestyle to go with the home.
The people who enjoy socialising at venues, short commutes and having so much choice at their doorstep have found that life outside the city just isn’t sustainable for them, especially 18 – 34 year olds. While this age group would have most likely been the first to move out of the city centre during the first lockdown, they are also most likely the first to have moved back to the city to enjoy what they missed.
That is because cities such as Birmingham – a cosmopolitan hub that’s constantly evolving and with its best years still to come – are able to offer not just an attractive urban lifestyle, but also a welcome sense of community.
