With climate emergencies, growing populations and increased demand for housing, we’ve been keeping up-to-date with news articles and press releases about Leicester properties as well as any economic changes and industry updates over the years to maintain an understanding of the current Leicester property market. 

From the city of Leicester being announced by worldwide environmental charities as one of the fastest-growing climate action leaders, to the development of around 29,000 new Leicester homes, there are plenty of exciting updates on the streets of Leicester.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the latest property updates and discover what’s new on the streets in the diverse and vibrant city of Leicester.

Climate-Action Leaders

Earlier this year, Leicester has been recognised as a global leader on climate action and transparency. This news comes after the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) recently their Cities ‘A List’ for 2019, which annually reviews countries around the world for their environmental impact and carbon footprint. 

With only 105 cities listed globally, this is a tremendous achievement for our beloved city. 

To be named as a climate-action leader, Leicester had to have had a city-wide emissions inventory, along with publishing a climate action plan to demonstrate how climate hazards will be tackled and an emissions reduction target.

Some of the actions taken by Leicester City Council to achieve this title includes investing in the Connecting Leicester scheme to create safer routes for pedestrians and cyclists, replacing street lights with economically-friendly white LEDs, installing low-carbon energy and low-cost district heating systems to over 3,000 homes and declaring a climate emergency in February 2019.

The prestigious title awards the city of Leicester for their transparency and action on climate change. With CDP publicly naming just 43 cities in 2018, compared to 105 cities in 2019, there’s a strong indication that cities across the world are also beginning to declare a climate emergency. 

So if you’re looking to purchase your first buy-to-let property, make sure you’ve considered its energy performance rating. From 1st April 2020, EPC requirements state that properties will be required to have a minimum ‘E’ rating.

Leicester Properties: Potential New-Builds

With the growing population of Leicester, it’s inevitable that members of Leicester City Council are in negotiations for building over 21,000 new homes. It has been revealed that Leicester needs around 29,000 more Leicester properties to cope with this growing demand. 

Leicester City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, recently announced that Leicester City Council were in talks for finding sites for building new residential developments. The strategy released by the council reveals the long-term plan for shaping how Leicester develops, from now until 2036.

These plans have been controversial amongst many Leicester residents with the potential development sites situated in some of Leicester’s green spaces. 

The development promises to focus on key issues, including climate change and transportation. City councillors have already begun public consultations since March 2020 with further talks in place throughout 2021 before the proposal becomes finalised and agreed.

Leicester City Council is looking to have these 21,000 homes built on the outskirts of the city centre. However, with the constrained boundaries of locating suitable sites, the council are looking to negotiate with neighbouring districts.

Developers are also set to build new Leicester properties, schools, parks, shops and roads to the north-east of the city. The overall plan is to build around 1,700 homes each year.

Soaring House Prices

Due to the soaring demand for housing with our growing population, house prices have increased more in Leicester than any other city in the UK. These statistics were released by Zoopla, who announced that house prices in Leicester currently sit at £180,000, but are growing at an annual rate of 4.7%.

Of course, with soaring house prices comes increases in rental costs for tenants around the UK. From this month, those living in council homes are set to have their monthly rental costs to rise in Leicester, which is due to affect around 20,000 council homes.

This rent is due to increase by 2.7%, which calculates to an average figure of around £97 per year, per household.

Whilst the expected increase in house prices is wonderful for Leicester estate agents working in property development and real estate, home buyers and tenants are certain to feel the pressure as house prices continue to rise faster than the minimum wage. 

For first-time-buyers especially, we strongly advise setting up a Lifetime ISA, which you can transfer money to each month and receive a 25% bonus to your savings from the government to go towards your first home.

On a positive note, since the EU referendum in June 1975, property values in Leicester have risen by a staggering 1629.9%. This increase over the past 40 years is a great backbone for the Leicester property market to fall back on.

Although an initial hit has occurred to the price of Leicester city centre properties, this is nothing as dramatic as originally predicted. 

Many leading industry experts predict that the property market prices in Leicester will begin to drop in the next year or so.

Let Your Leicester Properties Today

Are you curious about putting up your property on the market for potential renters? Let Open House Leicester help you. Not only do we offer quality property valuation in Leicester, but we can also get your property on some of the best property listings in the UK to ensure a successful advertisement.

If you choose to advertise your rental property with Open House Leicester, we can ensure a quicker transaction than the average. With our large network, we can also help you advertise your rental property to thousands of potential tenants.

Want to see how we can help you with your Leicester and East Midlands lettings? Just get in touch with us today to discuss your needs. 

Our friendly team of property experts have years of experience when it comes to letting and renting properties so they will be able to answer any questions you may have and make sure you are getting the best quality services.