Added Market value
Paul Drury on how one popular store helped transform a suburb
CAN a single food store be responsible for transforming its neighbourhood into a land of milk and honey? Well, we’ve all heard of the ‘Waitrose effect’ – whereby a branch of the upmarket chain can add thousands to the value of your home.
But what’s happening in Giffnock, the leafy enclave just south of Glasgow, is nothing short of remarkable.
The area has become the number one target for young professional couples. It’s been a property hotspot for decades, what with its proximity by train to Glasgow city centre, traditional red sandstone villas and some of the best schools in Scotland.
Yet recent developments have conspired to turn the G46 postcode into property gold. The opening of the country’s only Whole Foods Market five years ago appears to have sent house prices off the scale.
Last month, a humble three-bed bungalow next to the shop sold for £100,000 over the asking price.
Registers of Scotland figures just released confirm a 15 per cent annual increase in the East Renfrewshire area, the highest in Scotland.
Joyce Watt of estate agent Corum has been selling homes here since 1995. She said: ‘I can’t honestly recall demand like it.
‘No other area we know of is performing like Giffnock. There is a huge desire to get in. It’s definitely got community appeal.
‘People love the fact it’s got such a cosmopolitan vibe to it. There’s Italian bistro Pane E Vino; Catch has just been voted the top fish restaurant in Scotland; and it’s got the only Whole Foods store in the country.
‘Folk now realise they can walk down Fenwick Road and actually chat to people, something that’s quite unusual within a city.’
A local business club rebranded the area Giffnock Village – which appears to have been a stroke of marketing genius.
Homes in the area are lucky if they are on the market a week before they are sold at closing date.
In only seven days, 42 viewers turned up to see one end-terrace villa. There were seven offers and it sold for £40,000 above the Home Report valuation.
A new development next year could free up some larger homes in the area for more ‘Village People’.
Giffnock is short on ‘downsizing’ accommodation, which would allow owners of bigger homes to trade down.
Mactaggart and Mickel will begin building an attractive development in Milverton Road next spring, offering a range of two and threebedroom apartments with downsizers in mind.
And if there’s not already enough to tempt you, how’s this for a hook?
Hollywood actor Gerard Butler owns a flat in the next street.