You don’t have to be sport-obsessed to see the benefit of investing in a property close to a major venue. Zoe Dare Hall explores how sporting venues can be a winner for investors.
For the quarter of a million cricket fans who flock to the Kia Oval in South London every summer for a busy season of test matches, T20s and other major events, there’s a sight that will be as familiar to them as the hallowed turf itself and that’s of the huge Victorian gasholder that looms over the ground.
Once the world’s biggest gasholder, supplying the street lanterns in Victorian London, this vast Grade II listed structure will soon contain 199 flats – including 18 penthouses, staggered across several tiers – that are so close to the world-famous cricket pitch, they feel like a continuation of the grandstand. From their private terraces, residents will have close-up views of the on-pitch action.
Buyers so far, just days after its official launch, include professional cricketers and ardent followers of the sport who will use their home at The Halo – part of Berkeley’s Oval Village – as a pied à terre that offers cricket on tap.
Others are capitalising on the relative value for money in this Zone 1 location, with average prices – which range from £580,000 to £4.95m – working out at approximately £1,300 per square foot compared with £1,500-£1,600 per square foot in the nearby regeneration hotspot of Nine Elms, according to The Halo’s head of sales, Nanette Hung.
Maximising potential
And then, of course, there is the rental potential. The analytics company Dataloft finds that homes within 500 metres of a heritage sporting venue can command a rental premium of up to 19%. Hung estimates that The Halo’s penthouses could achieve £11,000 a month in rent, given their potential attractiveness for corporate entertainment. Given it costs up to £20,000 a day to hire an executive box at the Oval during a major event, the investment might stack up.
The vogue among London developers for converting historic gasholders also comes with a premium. Based on Dataloft’s analysis of Kings Cross Gasholders, buyers will pay 79% more to live within one of these iconic, steel structures compared with other less idiosyncratic properties nearby.
Calculating sporting venue premiums in the UK is always a lively topic of debate. Foxtons estate agency finds that the average rental yield in London postcodes that are home to a major sporting venue is 0.5% higher than the average for the borough. Proximity to Lord’s Cricket Ground claims the trophy for the highest rental yield at 6.9%, followed closely by the Oval.
Capital appreciation is greater too, claim Foxtons, with sporting venue postcodes seeing values increase by 0.7% last year – a tiny amount, but a win no less, compared with average falls of -3.8% in the London market last year.
Investment goals: a sporting premium
With this year’s Wimbledon Championships starting later this month, short let landlords near the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will be rubbing their hands at the 30% rise in rental rates they can expect, according to the GuestReady rental platform. One-bed flats within half a mile of Centre Court are advertised for £2,000+ a week through Wimbledon Tennis Lettings.
That’s nothing, though, compared with the 235% uplift in rental prices over the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone in July. There’s a rare chance to buy a three-bedroom apartment in the Escapade development, with direct views over the famous circuit, priced at £2.25m through United Kingdom Sotheby’s International Realty.
The owner’s racing driver son has relocated to the US, so the property is no longer needed, but he informs that the apartment fetches £35,000 for a four-night rental during the Grand Prix.
Iconic golf courses claim their place on the sports venue premium podium too. With “the best views in golf”, according to Neil Scott from Knight Frank in Edinburgh, the two townhouses for sale at The Fairways – priced at £7.25m and £7.75m – have a frontline position over the 1st and 18th fairways of the Old Course at St Andrews. In summer, says Scott, these three-bedroom houses can rent out for £2,000+ a night.
But what if you want to get ahead of the curve and predict the next sporting venue on its way up? Well, it’s no coincidence that Wrexham saw house prices rise by more than anywhere else in Wales last year, with the town still basking in the glory of Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds’ acquisition of the local football club Wrexham AFC in 2020 – and their subsequent promotion to League One.
Perhaps a similar fortune lies in store for Birkenhead in the Wirral, where the American rapper AS$P Rocky is in the running to buy a majority stake in Tranmere Rovers.
The beauty of sport may lie in its ability to shock and surprise – but one thing’s for sure: offering a direct view over the action will always attract a devoted audience.
