Professor John Shutt, speaking at a recent  "Urban Vitality" conference on the growth of Leeds city centre, advised that Leeds is indeed a  'boom city' with the creation of just under 50,000 new jobs expected in the next decade and almost £2 billion of infrastructure investment in the pipeline. This coupled with the dilemma of how to provide enough affordable housing in cities when currently an additional 200,000 homes are needed every year in the UK, has bolstered the demand.

Those interested in the investment potential of this city, should also take note of the actions of a number of London's businesses who have chosen Leeds as the first place to establish a presence outside the capital. 'Harvey Nichols' opened their second store in Leeds in the Cross Arcade some years ago and it attracted a great deal of media interest. The well established London bar 'Teatro' followed their success in London with an opening in Leeds.

'Gieves & Hawkes', also known to many as Savile Row tailors, have only a few operations outside London but they have identified Leeds as a place with a market for top tailoring. They opened a branch in the city centre and are planning to expand their presence in the wider West Yorkshire region. 'Vivienne Westwood' can be found in the county arcade. The increasing  demand for high end clothing lines in Leeds is  considered to be indicative of the calibre of professionals now residing there.

Of course the presence of three universities and a number of higher education colleges has contributed greatly to the number of rental properties and landlords who rent their houses to students. The popular nightlife of Leeds has also added greatly to the attraction for students to study there, landlords frequently citing this factor as primary to why they're able to charge such high rents in the area.

The result has been that the demand in the city for accommodation is high, and the limited supply of good houses and flats pushes the market up even in the less desirable areas. In comparison to other Northern cities, the city centre of Leeds is small and has a shortage of residential property.

The council have been developing and promoting the city as a business location for a number of years. This increasing vogue for city living has caused the council to set a target of 10,000 city residential units being available eventually. However at the moment there are only 1,000 flats built and occupied, with a total of 4,000 in the construction stage. Demand is high but with so few good apartments available, a competitive sales market has appeared.

Right now, one bedroom apartments with parking are reported to be the hottest property, requiring around £110K for an average 1 bed flat rising to £130K for an average 2 bed. Flats of this kind command a rental of around £700 per month. However, more spacious property and apartments can sell for £250K or more.

Most of the new properties are flats, to make the most of limited space so town houses are fairly rare and are in extremely high demand. As conversion possibilities diminish a substantial amount of the new developments arrive, allowing a wide range of different purpose built inclusions of amenities.

With the city council pursuing a further 7,000 units, there will definitely be a distinct change in the city over the next 12 - 14 years but the key factor to note here is that a lot of this activity is planning for the long term future. This means that it is early days. Interestingly, a number of estate agents feel that property prices in Leeds overall are still between 20% and 30% behind Manchester though most first time buyers still complain that prices are over inflated. Either way, Leeds is and will continue to be a property market worth exploring.