Fancy moving to a cool pad in Birmingham but not sure what's hot in 2016? Alison Jones points you in the direction of some desirable areas - some established, others up-and-coming - for your new year hit list.
Moseley
It was officially hailed as the best place to live in Britain by the Sunday Times this year.
The broadsheet praised the village’s artsy vibe; its appeal to “liberal-minded academics”; the fact that you could still get a period detached for under half a million; and its pubs (most notably the Prince of Wales).
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The Prince has been at the vanguard of protests against its blandification through the invasion of too many chain cafés and restaurants that it says threatens the unique nature of the village. proximity to parks also helps satisfy the cultural needs of its residents with the private Moseley Park hosting both a Jazz Funk and Soul Festival and a Folk Festival, while has hosted numerous food festivals and gives access to the mac with all its opportunities for learning new stuff. Most house sales in Moseley over the past year were terraced homes selling for an average of £204,433.
Expect to pay more here than nearby Kings Heath, Sparkhill or the student area of Selly Park.
The overall average price for Moseley in 2015 was £236k.
Digbeth
There are big plans for if a Kuwait-based property group has its way.
Salhia Investments is on a mission to build the – a 30-storey skyscraper overshadowing St Martin’s Church and .
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Digbeth has already been spruced up by the beautification of the coach station, which once used to strike fear into the hearts of new arrivals to the city.
The Adagio Aparthotel in the (where the tall tower would also be) has opened and is designed to attract business people who want a home from home while working in the city.
And continues to be a colourful presence for the young and artistically inclined.
The food scene down there is just fantastic, from the pioneering Digbeth Dining Club that sells street food beneath the arches of the Victorian viaduct, to the Original Patty Men, who have chosen to “pimp” their patties from a location in Shaw’s Passage, to the laid back atmosphere of Alfie Bird’s, with its innovative pizzas and custard cocktail (an homage to its namesake).
Residentially speaking, Salhia’s plans are to create 223 apartments in a cluster of towers and live/work units.
The wholesale market is also to be moved and created – a family friendly paradise of homes, museums, galleries, music venues and open spaces.
On a smaller scale, Harrison Drape, an old curtain track factory in Bradford Street, is to become Digbeth’s first residential square. Work on Fabrick Square, which will include more than 300 apartments, is set to be completed in 2016.
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on that side of the city, with apartments selling from £96k.
Kings Heath
It is on the doorstep of Moseley but has a character all of its own. And rather more affordable housing.
Locals are fiercely proud of the area and describe themselves as Heathens (purely ironically, we are sure).
The high street is perfectly adequate for all your grocery shopping and charity shop visiting needs, though it is hardly at the cutting edge as far as fashion is concerned.
What is more appealing are the boutiques, cafés and watering holes that are just off it.
Places like the Hare and Hounds, centre of the Kings Heath musical universe; Kitchen Garden Cafe, a hybrid of cafe, restaurant, garden shop, deli and live entertainment venue; Cherry Red’s Café Bar, an independent café bringing its own Brick Lane-style hipster vibe to York Road; Maison Mayci the artisan bakery which started in King’s Heath a full five years before customers demanded they open a branch in Moseley; and People, selling one-of-a-kind ladies’ clothes and lifestyle bits and bobs.
Heathens love a market – from the vintage flea market at All Saints Centre to the regular street food market on the village square.
It also has Kings Heath Food Assembly. Not a show and tell for amusingly shaped homegrown veg, but produce sourced locally which is ordered online and can then be collected from the farmers and producers who gather together at the Hare and Hounds.
In terms of homes, there is a steady market in period terraces which can prove surprisingly spacious.
Homes close to the two parks – Kings Heath and Highbury – are also popular.
Average house prices here were £177,000 in 2015 - seven per cent higher than the previous year. Houses here are cheaper than Moseley and more expensive than .
Jewellery Quarter
A work in constant progress it seems.
Birmingham used to be the workshop of the world.
A lot of the industry around Hockley revolved round the making of jewellery, crafting of metals and the manufacture of small and shiny objects of desire.
The quarter was once a wealthy residential area of upmarket Georgian houses. But during the 19th century workshops and factories sprang up and even homes were converted for business use.
The manufacturing trade declined after the 1920s and new uses have .
The bigger of the warehouses have lent themselves to loft-style living with developers like Javelin Block creating edgy urban spaces concealed behind exteriors that look unchanged since their industrial heyday.
There are 6,000 people now living in the quarter, who can enjoy its restaurants, bars and cafes.
Much of the social whirl is centred round the St Paul’s Church Square, up Ludgate Hill (many have revelled late into the night enjoying the cheap drinks and judgement-free atmosphere on the dance deck of the Actress and Bishop), and beneath the Square Peg.
planning tracker on its website reveals a full list of applications to create apartments, studios and penthouses in streets all over the area.
House price stats for 2015 in the quarter went from £66,000 for a studio in St Pauls Square to £690,000 for a loft designed by Javelin Block in Viceroy House.
Holloway Head
A bit leftfield but bear with us. Aesthetically speaking it is not the loveliest of areas, lacking leafy avenues and instead being a quick route from the A of the Bullring and to the B of and the Five Ways Island.
Architecturally, it is a mix of multi storey buildings from across the decades alleviated only by the neo-classical grace of the remains of the Church of St Thomas.
But if developers have their way it could become the new millionaires’ row.
The ‘dozers have been moving in and planning permission is being sought or has been granted for apartment schemes all round in a bid to drag the area up by its moribund boot straps.
Concord House led the way, topped by the city’s most expensive penthouse at £1.8 million.
Panther Securities is building 487 apartments on a 1.3 acre plot previously inhabited by buildings from the 50s and 60s (four years after they failed in a bid for a £100 million scheme to build a hotel and casino there).
Plans have been put forward to turn the home of a into nine luxury apartments with seven figure price tags.
And the old site of Eddie’s Rock Club is set to be sacrificed to a development of 73 flats.
The road has a lot going for it in terms of proximity to New Street Station, shopping (, or Bullring), nightclubs, theatres and restaurants. And we like the 24/7 vibe of an area which has washing machines on its petrol station forecourt, so you can party all night then nip out to do a spot of laundry.
In 2015 prices ranged from an £87k apartment sold in Clydesdale Tower, one of the “Sentinals” on the Pagoda Island, to the record breaking penthouse in .