Digbeth

While Birmingham continues to perform alongside UK property growth and rental yields, demand for buy-to-let property in Digbeth is fast increasing. Digbeth has everything to offer including total connectivity, walking distance to the commercial and business hub in the city and home to incredible growth opportunities.

For tenants, Digbeth could become Birmingham’s most desirable postcode. Boasting a Berlin-like community of the city’s brightest creatives and digital executives, the neighbourhood boasts a dynamic food scene, with Digbeth Dining Club, 670 grams and Zumhof Biergarten tapping into Digbeth’s demographic of young professionals. In addition to this, the area’s cultural offering is second to none. Music venues like the 02 Institute and Lab 11 go hand-in-hand with a handful of galleries within walking distance. Add to this a brewery, independent retail stores, mini golf, baseball batting cages, a cinema and more, Digbeth proves that it really does have everything a tenant could want.

As one of the most diverse cities in the UK, Birmingham has an outstanding cultural offering, with world-class facilities, a renowned arts programme and thriving dining scene. Home to the Symphony Hall, the Hippodrome and Birmingham REP, Birmingham also hosts the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, just two examples of an extensive cultural landscape that makes up the second city.

While there are plenty of investment opportunities in Birmingham, Digbeth is predicted as the top area for capital gains, buoyed by the local economy, employment market and emerging development. With property prices having increased by 401% over the last 20 years, there’s clear evidence that this is a neighbourhood on the rise.

The main driver of this growth is the regeneration Digbeth is experiencing. Places such as Digbeth are building brand new amenities, accommodation and commercial spaces, encouraging property price increases. When this level of development is combined with Digbeth’s world-class transport links, it’s easy to see how this up-and-coming market is driving incredible growth and attracting both renters and investors.

Birmingham Smithfield: With an investment value of over £1.5 billion, delivering 300,000sq.m of new retail and commercial space including 2,000 new homes. The new development includes new vibrant retail markets, family spaces, cultural buildings, new transport infrastructure and public squares.

HS2: Engineered to become the spine of the UK’s transport network, HS2 will shorten travel times between London and Birmingham to just 45 minutes. Consequently, Birmingham is bracing itself for a new dawn upon its completion, with a Gross Value Added (GVA) of around £1.5bn and the creation of 22,000 permanent jobs. What this has already meant for Birmingham’s property prices is clear: a 7% increase since 2017 shows no sign of stopping as the city gets ready to plug into a host of new opportunities.

Custard Factory & Fazeley Studios: Renovated from 15 acres of factory buildings, Custard Factory and Fazeley Studios are vibrant office spaces that are bringing Digbeth to the fore of global digital innovations. Breaking ground in areas like 3D modelling, cybersecurity and multi-media production, Digbeth’s Creative Quarter has become renowned as the city’s go-to region for digital inventiveness, breeding a vibrant community of young professionals that has spilt over into the cafes, bars and amusements nearby.

Understanding the demographic of tenants in an area is a great way to start your investment planning. Introducing Flo, a tenant in Digbeth.

Flo works in the Digital Media sector – either Comms Exec or as part of an agency. She’s on a salary of around £35k and wants to live somewhere that inspires her work and where she’s at the heart of everything happening. She’s chosen to rent here because it’s the ‘coolest neighbourhood in Britain’ and a hotspot for culture and nightlife. The co-working spaces will resonate with Flo as she works on a flexible time-scale, too.

She’s independent, politically-charged and conscious of the environment and her impact on it. She’ll support zero waste shopping, choosing The Clean Kilo, a zero-waste supermarket. She’ll also shop at Lush, Fatface and Cow, an independent retail store. Flo is social media savvy and mostly uses Twitter.

She’s also on the doorstep of the Custard Factory – a hub of digital business and likely where she’ll work. She’s a local (originally from Sutton Coldfield) and will be renting while she saves for a deposit on a house.