Even today, Sheffield is probably still most famous for its historic steel industry (unless, of course, you are a football fan in which case it may be more famous as the place where William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick founded the first football club in the world in 1857). While the steel industry still exists, Sheffield has successfully moved with the times and as a result it is now quietly becoming one of the UK’s property hotspots. Here are 4 reasons why.
The digital revolution
For an increasing number of people, work has become an activity rather than a place. People in that situation can judge potential home bases on their overall quality of life rather than having to focus on commuter links. For all Sheffield is a city, with all the associated facilities and amenities, it has plenty of green spaces and nature is never far away. It is also known as being a very safe location.
Excellent transport facilities
For those who do need (or want) to travel for work or leisure, Sheffield has great transport links and these are only set to get better. Trains from Sheffield reach either Manchester or Birmingham in about an hour and a quarter and London in about two hours. It can take this sort of time to get from one end of London to the other by Tube or bus. Sheffield is also in line (literally) to benefit from HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme.
A vibrant economy
Sheffield’s economy still includes its traditional industries including the famous steel manufacturing, it has also forged its way ahead in the 21st century by adapting its many years of industrial expertise to the modern world of manufacturing, in particular metallurgy. The Advanced Manufacturing Park is a highly-respected research centre which has been at the forefront of many developments in advanced manufacturing technologies and techniques. In addition to this, Sheffield has been developing its knowledge-based industries in general along with service industries, including finance and also has an extensive retail sector.
Investor-friendly demographics
First of all, Sheffield has two excellent universities, The University of Sheffield and Hallam University, which not only attracts students from the whole of the UK, but also attract many students from overseas, which is already a good basis for a thriving rental market. What’s more, the development of the economy in the north of England, together with the outstanding quality of life, encourages these young people to stay in the local area instead of heading down south to London to start their careers. That means that many of them will transition from student renters to young professional renters before they reach a point in their lives when they are ready to settle down and become home owners. This creates pretty much perfect conditions for buy-to-let investors and the outlook becomes even rosier when you look at the affordability of property in Sheffield, especially as compared to equivalent property in the Thames Valley area. This allows for excellent rental yields as well as the realistic prospect of capital appreciation.
Author Bio
Hopwood House are specialists in UK property with a wide range of investment properties for sale which include student and buy-to-let property investments in Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool.
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Daniel Peacock