CANADA WATER DEFIES PROPERTY SLUMP AS NEW BUILD RECORDS ONLY PRICE RISE

Discusions (0)

9 January 2009

 

By Madeleine Lindh
news@southwarknews.org

PRICES IN a new Canada Water development have risen by two per cent, defying the capital's trend of falling house prices.

The new Maple Quays development, in Canada Water, is baffling the experts. Within ten days of launching its off-plan sales in October, it had sold ten properties and soon the pressure on the not yet finished development proved so high that developers Barratt Homes were able to put up their prices - by two per cent.

According to those in the know, this makes Maple Quays the only new development in London to have put their prices up rather than down, beating established residential areas like Notting Hill in the race for credit crunch property-buyers.

Despite this, Alastair Baird, Barratt London's Managing Director, has taken the news calmly.

He said: "In a buoyant market, it is normal practice to sell the first homes on any development off-plan at the lowest prices they will ever be, in order to encourage sales and get an early return on our investment in land and construction. As the development takes shape and the choice of available homes widens, prices are steadily increased. But of course, in the current economic climate that's not really happening anywhere - except at Maple Quays."

The new development is part of the Canada Water regeneration project, which will see 2,000 new homes built around the Canada Water basin, along with a new library, shopping amenities and office spaces.

Baird said: "Rotherhithe is absolutely buzzing and there is clearly an appetite for home-ownership in a place which combines terrific value with terrific location."

Despite the increase in price, Barratt Homes said that Maple Quays still held outstanding value, with one-bedroom apartments on the lower floors currently available at prices from £231,995.

---

---

Social Bookmarks:
del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Wikipedia: social bookmarking

---