Meanwhile down in Portstewart every available plot looking over the Bay is being built on. All the old 1930s style bungalows are being replaced by glass-and-concrete mansions, or apartments, or both. Naturally the ones right by the seashore are the most desirable, as no-one is ever going to build in front of you. Unless they do like Monaco and make a new seashore/artificial island - but I doubt that's ever going to happen here.
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| OM-1/135mm; HP5+ on Adox MCC paper |
OK so the view here is somewhat compressed by the 135mm lens but still, it's beginning to look a tad over-developed. There ain't much privacy to these new glass-fronted builds, what with a busy seaside walk in front and neighbours all around, but that doesn't seem to bother the occupants too much - if there are any, that is. I always make a point of looking into the rooms as I walk by, just 'cos I can. Occasionally I see someone sitting reading a newspaper but most times I see no-one. Are they all hiding? A lot of these are second homes/holiday apartments so perhaps the owners are somewhere else 90% of the time. Seems a shame. Holiday times and weekends the place is heaving - the cafes full and the restaurants queued out onto the pavement. But during a normal school week it's a different story. Seems to be happening all over the UK from what I read - the South of England and Cornwall in particular has gone completely mad by the sound of it. Residents in Wales complain about the number of second homes, which effectively means locals can barely afford to live in their own towns any more, young people can't get on the property market as they are being priced out by outside money. Some Councils are doubling the property taxes for second homes but I doubt that will have much effect - if you can afford a few hundred thousand for a second home what's another few hundred a year? I don't know what the answer is. Actually I'm not even sure I know what the question is.
It's the same here. Apartments going up all over the city and no one in this city can afford them. And with the recent massive drop in housing prices, many of the flats can't be sold because they are no longer a good investment.
ReplyDeleteI'm old enough to remember the market ups and downs in England in the 80s. There were a lot of repossessions; others were in negative equity for years. I think there's a lot of complacency about property prices at the minute in the UK, as there's been a lot of growth since the last crash in 2008. Interest rates at an all time low for the last 10 years or so have helped fuel the hype. I just hope we can avoid another crash, but I'm not sure we will.
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