House hunters join queue for ‘locals only’ flats
HOUSE hunters queued for hours in a bid to get their hands on a city-centre flat after developers pledged to reserve them for people who want to live and work in Manchester.
The first 20 flats at Crusader Mill in Ancoats will be set aside for local people, to prevent investors siphoning them off.
Developers Capital and Centric say none of the 201 apartments will be advertised overseas or to investors, with reports from other areas of the city suggesting that some have bought properties and left them empty.
Property seekers queued up outside from 6am, to be the first through the door at 10am.
Among those at the front of the queue were best friends Rebecca Tessler and Holly Percival.
They have been renting a flat nearby for the past 18 months, and they can see Crusader Mill from their window.
They have found it difficult to find places to buy, with flats often snapped up before they could make their move.
The early wake-up call paid off, as Rebecca and Holly secured themselves a two-bed flat for £285k which they will move into in September 2019.
Rebecca, a fashion designer, said: “It just seemed like a no-brainer. We have been renting and it feels like we have been throwing our money away. Now we can put it into an investment.”
Rebecca, 26, said the proximity of the development to Piccadilly Station and the Northern Quarter was an important factor in their decision to buy.
Thorrun Govind, a pharmacist from Bolton, joined the queue at 7am.
She currently lives with her parents, and says she has been looking to move out for a while but has found it difficult.
Thorrun said: “A lot of places seem to be targeting foreign investors to buy apartments, so it was refreshing to see that they were targeting young professionals. A lot of places are too expensive. It’s a very attractive area because you have got the transport links at Piccadilly to London, but also to other areas of Greater Manchester.”