'Excellent return' with flats occupied

PLYMOUTH city centre's £12million Zero 4 apartment block is now fully occupied and providing an "excellent return" two years after it was built, its owner has told The Herald.

But the flats at the nine-storey skyscraper, on the site of the former Ballard Centre at The Crescent, are now mostly rented, after it proved difficult to sell them.

The building was completed in the summer of 2008, just before the UK's property market was pitched into financial crisis.

It meant it became difficult to sell flats as values fell. When apartments at Zero 4 were first marketed in 2007, prices started at £160,000, but in a year they had fallen to as low as £129,950.

Some purchasers got cold feet and tried to pull out of contracts, leading to developer Prestige Homes South West winning a landmark court case last December.

At that time, nine of the 122 apartments were still empty. Just 18 had been sold and Prestige Homes was looking to rent the rest.

Today, the company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Plymouth based London & Westcountry Estates Limited, said it was "delighted" to announce Zero 4 was fully occupied.

It said the 2008 economic downturn had led to "a change in strategy" on the tower, after talks with Prestige's lenders.

Prestige Homes' Matthew Hockin said: "Clearly, we had hoped to sell the luxury apartments once completed, but the financial crisis and subsequent economic recession meant that we needed to alter our strategy accordingly.

"With the support of our funders, we have been able to re-gear our facility to allow us to keep the property as a lettings vehicle for the longer term.

"This property now generates an excellent return, that we shall now keep and add to the group's South West-based extensive property portfolio."

He added: "With the close proximity to the various amenities and waterfront nearby, these apartments have proven to be exceptionally popular with a wide range of people."

Prince Rock-based Prestige said it would not have started work on the building had it not first bagged 55 exchanged contracts.

But when some people tried to escape from them, the firm turned to the courts.

In December, the High Court in Bristol ordered one person to pay £133,282 in damages, costs and interest to the firm.

That person had already lost a deposit and the flat because the contract was rescinded.

Prestige Homes told The Herald at the time that the result was only what it had been expecting.