Banking on a boom
Barclays’ new HQ may send property market soaring, says Paul Drury
WITH building work under way, the new HQ of a major bank could lay the foundations for a property boom in Glasgow. Barclays is bringing 2,500 employees to the city in what Nicola Sturgeon describes as a ‘transformational’ development.
Readers of a certain age will recall what happened in the late 1980s when Abbey National decided to relocate to Glasgow. Anyone trying to buy a house had to compete with bank employees who enjoyed cushy mortgages and generous relocation packages.
The fact that the oil company Britoil was doing the same thing at the same time only served to seriously inflate house prices in the area.
Fast forward 30 years and many experts believe the property market could hugely gain from Barclays’ move.
Dr John Boyle, director of research for Rettie, said: ‘This provides added value to the economy and is bound to have a knockon effect on the housing market.
‘Of course, there is uncertainty due to Brexit but a move of this importance provides assurance that the fundamentals of the Glasgow economy are still strong.’
Districts of the city such as Strathbungo and Shawlands are sure to appeal to young bankers new to town.
Located on the South Side of the city, they provide the upmarket bistros and throbbing nightlife craved by millennials within a ten-minute bus, bike or car journey of their new HQ.
Ironically, Barclays had already predicted a boom in the Glasgow suburban housing market months before last year’s announcement about its new development at Buchanan Wharf.
Last May, it forecast house price increases approaching 25 per cent by 2023 in the suburbs of East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire.
With some of the best schools in the country, these two areas are bound to attract Barclays employees who have children.
One outstanding property currently on the market in East Renfrewshire actually started life as a place of education, as the first base for the private Belmont School.
GA Montague and his wife Beryl first opened the doors of a preparatory school in 1929, using an amalgam of their names.
Now a substantial family home, the detached property on a leafy corner of Greenhill Avenue in Giffnock offers a welcoming entrance hall, lounge, sitting room, dining room and breakfasting kitchen. At the back, there’s a pretty porch, a laundry room and pantry.
UPSTAIRS, a large landing leads to four substantial double bedrooms, a single bedroom that could double as a home office, and a stunning upgraded bathroom fitted by Porcelanosa.
The house also offers additional basement storage plus attic space ripe for development.
To anyone relocating from Surbiton or a similar suburb in South-East England, the asking price of close to three-quarters of a million pounds will appear something of a snip.
Offers over £735,000 to Susan Laisen of Corum, Newton Mearns. Tel 0141 639 5888 or email s.laisen@ corumproperty.co.uk