CITY PROFILE: LEEDS

KEY FACTS

Transport: Leeds Station, the busiest in the north of England, with 31 million passengers last year, has very good rail links to the rest of the country, with London just over two hours away.

Economy: According to Leeds City Council, the city’s economy has grown almost 40 per cent over the last 10 years which is boosting employment, with Leeds now boasting the highest proportion of private to public sector jobs of all key cities outside of the capital.

Employment: Leeds has been hailed as the “digital centre of the north” by global property consultancy Knight Frank and compared to Shoreditch in London for its “hi-tech” employment clusters, such as Concordia House and the Platform office building overlooking the station.

Population: The population of Leeds is estimated to grow to 819,000 by 2024 according to property consultancy JLL.

Leeds Bradford Airport: Already serving the city well with a large selection of domestic and European flights, and reachable in just 30 minutes by car, Leeds Bradford Airport is earmarked for future expansion.

City Centre Retail: The retail offer in the city centre has improved in spectacular fashion with the opening of the award-winning Trinity and Victoria Gate in the past three years. Both shopping centres boast national and international high-end brands, together with successful independents, and make Leeds one of the prime retail destinations in the country.

Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone: 142 hectares of prime development land with superb transport links, close to Leeds city centre. The Enterprise Zone has already attracted household names such as Amazon, Premier Farnell and John Lewis to developments such as Muse’s Logic Leeds by the M62, creating thousands of jobs.

EMPLOYERS

The economy was traditionally based on heavy industry, but financial and professional services, digital and information services, precision manufacturing, health and innovation and food and drink are now key areas for employment.

Leeds has been hailed as the “digital centre of the north” by global property consultancy Knight Frank and compared to Shoreditch in London for its “hi-tech” employment clusters, such as Concordia House and the Platform office building overlooking the station. Traditional employers include Asda, the Government, Jet2, Yorkshire Bank, the city’s universities and the NHS.

The Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone, to the south and west of the city, has attracted household names such as Amazon, Premier Farnell and John Lewis to developments such as Muse’s Logic Leeds by the M62, creating thousands of jobs.

POPULATION

The population of Leeds is estimated to grow to 819,000 by 2024 according to property consultancy JLL.

Demand for student accommodation is an important factor in the property markets of most cities - and Leeds is a major university city. There are around 60,000 students studying at three large universities here including the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University. There are also about 6,000 overseas students arriving to study each year at the University of Leeds alone. Leeds is popular with students from the south of England who are attracted, in part, by housing and living costs that are substantially lower than the south.

THE CITY CENTRE

The retail offer in the city centre has improved in spectacular fashion with the opening of the award-winning Trinity and Victoria Gate in the past three years.

Both shopping centres boast national and international high-end brands, together with successful independents, and make Leeds one of the prime retail destinations in the country. Close to the stunning Victoria Gate is Quarry Hill, which is being redeveloped to include the new SoYo residential development.

New and refurbished office space in the central professional core has been matched by state-of-the-art hotels and boutique restaurants, while locations on the periphery of the central core, such as the Round Foundry, Tower Works and Kirkstall Road, are proving equally popular with office and retail developers.

HOUSING

According to a recent report by property consultancy JLL, house prices in Leeds will grow 19.9% and rents will grow 18.8% by 2022. JLL believes that The Build to Rent market in Leeds is one of the most active across all of the UK’s city centres.

Demand is being fuelled not only by young professionals, but also by a wider spectrum of renters including more affluent students. JLL expects average rental value growth of 3.5% pa over the next 5 years.

There is also a strong appetite for high-quality owner occupier stock in Leeds. JLL expects demand to significantly outstrip available supply over the next five years. Leeds City Council’s latest Development Plan says that at least 66,000 new homes will be needed over the next 15 years to satisfy demand. Currently new house building levels are falling far short of that target.

Yorkshire and Humberside generally is one of the cheapest places in the country to invest in property. Prices here are well behind both London and the national average.

CONCLUSION

According to figures just released by Leeds City Council, the Leeds City Region is one of the fastest growing regions in the UK.

Together with Greater Manchester, Leeds forms a crucial part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative. The prospect of HS2, the superb retail offer, the emergence of the South Bank as a magnet for new and expanding young companies, the prime office core, the swift access to Yorkshire’s excellent motorway network and the relatively low living and housing costs, is a winning combination. It is not surprising that JLL’s recent report identifies Leeds as a stand-out market for rental growth. Leeds is a city whose time has come.

Average house price on Zoopla: £215,049