Commercial feature

Exciting new developments going on in Belfast include plans for a new £50 million, 26-storey city centre building which will provide dozens of serviced apartments for the discerning tenant.

In the Titanic Quarter, previously known as Queen’s Island and based in the former shipbuilding district, a £7 billion waterfront development, twice the size of London’s Canary Wharf, is under construction.

As well as being a great place to live, if you do need to travel, the Northern Irish capital is well served for getting around easily, with motorways, two airports and ferry connections to Scotland and England. And a scheme for a £150 million rapid transport system connecting the east and west of the city by bus is in the pipeline.

If you’re thinking about rental flats in Belfast because you’re coming to live here, you’ll find plenty of choice, from studio apartments to luxury pads, whether you want to base yourself in the heart of the city or further outside. Most of the modern developments are close to the city centre, where elegant Victorian and Edwardian townhouses sit alongside beautiful new builds.

For singles or couples, there are ultra-cool waterside flats offering the perfect urban living experience. For those with young children, a larger flat in a converted house could offer the ideal family home.

The market for apartments to rent in Belfast is thriving, with prospects for investors in particular becoming increasingly positive. While there has been a general decline in property prices since 2007, this has now stabilised.

There is good news for both tenants and landlords in the most recent statistics on Belfast’s rental sector. The economic downturn resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of homes available to let, given the decline in property sales. Many homeowners have become ‘reluctant landlords’, unwilling or unable to sell their houses or flats in the recession, letting them out instead, leading to pockets of oversupply in some areas of the city.

As a result, the average rental cost slipped to just under £550 a month in the first quarter of 2010, a fall of 6.2% compared with the same period in 2009, and down 2.5% on the previous quarter.

But investors and landlords can take real heart from the fact that this fall in rental values is only slight given the sheer volume of properties which have come on to the market over the last couple of years. And the two universities, coupled with the continuing restrictions on borrowing meaning people are buying later, ensure a steady supply of potential tenants.

For those who looking for apartments to rent in Belfast, rents remain affordable, and there’s plenty of choice. (Last year the city had nearly 125,000 privately rented dwellings.) However, you will be completing with students from Queen’s and Ulster Universities, and the greater number of people staying in rented accommodation for longer. So, once you’ve found somewhere you like, snap it up, especially just before a university term begins.

If you’re looking for houses or apartments to rent in Belfast, a quick search on the Internet will show you great selection of spacious, desirable and affordable homes to choose from.