Apartments - The new bungalows?

With the lack of bungalows being built, what can downsizers and pensioners who want to make the switch to single storey living do? There is no doubt that this situation has arisen as a result of the squeeze on land availability which in turn, is forcing housebuilders to build upwards rather than outwards.

Chase Homes, a housebuilder that has built its reputation on catering for the top end of the marketplace, has found that its large apartments – which typically comprise the same square footage as a four or five bedroom house – are now being snapped up by downsizers and retired individuals. Mal Maclachlan, sales manager for Chase Homes says:

“The fact is downsizers don’t want to downsize. They want to move to a more conveniently laid out, single storey property which provides a similar amount of space to their previous home but without as many bedrooms.

“Having been used to a particular set up in their home and spending years of building up their furniture, hardly anybody wants to start all over again. They want to move from A-to-B and into somewhere where they can slot their current furniture into place.

Aspirational apartments

Two examples of where Chase has experienced excellent interest from downsizers include:

‘Arden Oak’ – a scheme of nine large apartments in Solihull which sold out within months. Alan and Joy Greisbach moved from their large house to a three-bedroom penthouse apartment with terrace, living/dining room, kitchen, bathroom, study, family bathroom, en-suites and dressing areas.

Alan Greisbach comments:

“We were very happy at our previous house but found that there were too many rooms for just the two of us. The large Chase apartment is perfect for our needs; because it is new-build there are no maintenance worries and there is so much space for our original furniture that we haven’t had to think about rearranging or buying anything new.”

Royal Park House

With the Arden Oak development now completely sold out, Chase is currently experiencing similar levels of interest in its newly launched apartment scheme, ‘Royal Park House’ in Sutton Coldfield where it has already received over 250 enquiries within the space of a few weeks.

Built in the style of a large ‘Arts and Crafts’ building and set in beautifully landscaped gardens, the development comprises nine apartments, each benefiting from underground parking, a lift and wine cellars in the basement area.

Mal Machlachlan continues:

“The majority of the enquiries at Royal Park House are coming from ‘down sizers’ who are attracted to the size of the apartments – which range from circa 850 sq ft up to circa 1,500 sq ft – and the specification throughout the entire scheme.”

Each apartment at Royal Park house offers two bedrooms, with en-suite and dressing room to the master, a separate bathroom, kitchen and large living/dining area. The ground floor apartments come with their own private patio areas, whilst many of those situated on the first and second floors benefit from their own balconies.

Prices at Royal Park House range from £310,000 to £570,000. The showhome is open from 10am until 5pm, Thursday to Monday inclusive.

For more information, visit Chasehomes.co.uk.