Letter: 'Sheffield will have a lot of newly-built empty flats if universities continue to decline'
“We are in desperate need of proper houses and brownfield sites should be developed outwards instead of upward.”
Sheffield resident H.J.Greaves writes to say Sheffield will have a lot of newly-built but empty flats if the city’s student population continue to decline and job losses continue to bite into universities.
“Virtually every week now we read of yet another tower block of flats in the city centre and thereabouts being approved. Three hundred flats here, five hundred flats there and sometimes even more than that. It begs the question – who exactly is going to live in these flats when they are finally built?
“Many of them are marketed as ‘studios’ which is a euphemism for a shoe-box and the main market for these was students, but that market is slowly diminishing since we finally realised that Mickey Mouse degrees are not the way forward for a lucrative career. Massive university staff job losses are also starting to bite and coupled with the fact that foreign student numbers are way down, and particularly the Chinese who were a major customer for these short- term tenancies. Shops and hospitality are also starting to feel the pinch as this downfall in numbers starts to bite. It makes you wonder if we had become too reliant on the student economy.
“Young professionals are the next major market but they will eventually find a terrace house which are unfortunately in short supply and then move onto their dream of a semi. Flats usually incur a hefty service charge which is an immediate turn-off and if they are lease-hold then this makes matters even worse. Many of these properties are for rent only which effectively stops new buyers from getting on the housing ladder. Also, do you really want to be going up and down 30 floors in a lift to get to your front door?
“We are in desperate need of proper houses and brownfield sites should be developed outwards instead of upwards and planners should insist on this even if profits are much less. Everyone wants a small garden even if it only holds two deckchairs and a barbecue. Still better than a window box in a flat.
“A recent article in a national newspaper painted a bleak picture of the market for flats in London. There are thousands of empty units down there although this may be something to do with excessive rents, but the bubble has definitely burst. Property prices have dropped by tens of thousands and at the top end of the market, hundreds of thousands.
“Many of the expensive flats in London have never been lived in and it is common knowledge that if you drive around at night, many are in permanent darkness. This phenomenon is that many have been bought by Arabs, Chinese and Russian oligarchs purely for investment purposes. It’s a good way to get rid of the funny money. There have been reported cases of entire blocks in darkness and this obscene aberration badly needs an investigation but it will never happen.
“I don’t think we will suffer this problem in Sheffield but some of our developments are financed from across the other side of the world by multi-national corporations who have never set foot here. If the Sheffield bubble bursts they will have a lot of very expensive egg on their face.
“If we’re not careful Sheffield will also have a lot of flats in darkness. Not for the previously mentioned London financial investment reasons, but because there is a glut and no-one wants to live in them.”