UKC

Having recently moved to Sheffield I have been advised by lots of people that the best area to buy is S10 and S11. The house prices certainly seem to reflect that. However other people have told me although these are desirable areas there are lots of students there?

I'm confused if they are desirable, why are students there?

In reply to sparkass2: I don't know enough about other cities to say whether or not this is unique to Sheffield but the S10/S11 areas (and quite a bit of S7) have some of the most attractive old-ish houses which are also of a size to really suit developers looking to maximise profits by letting each room individually. So you get these areas with an odd mix of quite well off middle-class families and houses full of students or single young professionals who are house sharing. Also it's a location thing (ie near the universities). They stay popular despite the student presence (although there is a bit of conflict) because there are attractive leafy streets, good properties and all the other things which money attracts like pleasant shops/cafes/delis. I think school catchment areas also play a part in this mix.

S17 (Dore/Totley type area) is less studenty as it's further from the universities, but very desirable for homeowners. This is reflected in the prices though!

In reply to sparkass2: S11 has a really varied catchment area, As Alyson says many of the properties make ideal student houses. Get closer to The Peak (away from the terraced streets and further from the unis) and it's much less studenty plus benefits from arguably the best schools in the city.

In reply to sparkass2:
S10/S11 may not be cheap, but having there for 20 years I can vouch for it being a great place to live.

There is quite a mix of housing - apparently all the wealthy mill/factory owners would build out on the west side to ensure they were upwind of the output from their businesses. Other housing filling in (or in the grounds) has tended to be gradual and therefore less uniform. Plus it's been limited by the Peak, so at Hunters Bar you can less than 2m from the city centre and just 4 from the edge of the NP, and know that it won't change.


What's so confusing about that. Firstly it's an old university, so was built in the affluent, leafy part of the city. Lots of big houses, great for cramming in loads of students (we used to have 10 next door to us), but in the last few years the student village was enlarged and a lot of former student houses have been sold off or upgraded. Not sure that students were ever all that impoverished, but I reckon there has been a change of culture since loans came in - may as well be 25 grand in debt as 20 grand, so higher standard of accomodation and certainly more of them owning cars.

And finally, maybe one of the reason's why it's desirable is because of the students (and not just from an eye-candy point of view, though I'm not complaining). Students bring a certain vitality to an area, a throughput of fresh faces some of whom will stay. Hard to explain, particularly to some of the local nimbys, but well worth the occasional minor problem.

In reply to sparkass2:

One of the best things about going to university in Sheffield is that the student areas are in a nice part of town not a rough bit. It makes the area a happy place with generally good relationships between town and gown. Most students in S10 are located around Broomhill and Crookes, although both also have large non-student populations. Broomhill 'high street' is about as close as you get to a studenty area. Crookes doesn't feel swamped by students at all. As you move further from Broomhill and the university, you get fewer and fewer students.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

It is also worth mentioning that S10 and S11 are massive and include loads of housing and neighbourhoods like Fulwood, Nether Green, Redmires, Bents Green, Ecclesall, Beauchief etc. that are not really student neighbourhoods.

As Chris says though, the student areas of Broomhill, Ranmoor, Crookes and Hunters Bar (and Walkley in S6) are great places to live and where I have lived for most of my life in Sheffield despite moving house half-a-dozen times when I could easily have chosen a non-student area.

It is worth looking at houses in S7 and S6 as well since these are good areas and have plenty of decent houses.

Alan

In reply to sparkass2:

They're both desirable and there are lots of students in the more terraced housed parts of both areas. I think i'd live in the terraced or less terraced parts of both areas pretty happily to be honest.

The only problems with students near by may be more noise and not building up long term friendships with the neighbours I think. They're both big areas which are nice, as well as studenty in parts.

In reply to sparkass2:It perhaps seems Sheffield might differ from other cities where the studenty areas are usually a bit grotty.

I'm only 32, but i'm guessing the terraced houses where students tend to live in Sheffield in Crookes and Hunters Bar and Greystones and places like that used to be quite cheap to buy, and have been long term student areas since they were bought up by landlords.

At the moment terraced houses in studenty areas can cost between 150k and about 200k. Relatively speaking I think they might have cost much less in the early 80s than they would to buy now.

In reply to sparkass2: Have a look at Walkley too, it's a bit old school but is a better place to live than Crookes imo and is cheaper. It's the students that piss me off about Crookes, nothing against students but the place just feels like you're living on a campus at times (queues, late night noise and little feeling of community). Pubs in Crookes are shite compared to Walkley, apart from the Cob which is about the same distance from both high streets. Nether edge and Millhouses are really nice areas too.

In reply to Timmd:


Using my parents' house as an example...

The students in Sheffield S7/10/11 are fine. It's the climbers that are a pain in the arse.

In reply to NickD:I like the students in Sheffield to be fair, from what experience I have of them. They help to bring life to the city.

In reply to Horatio:

Crookes is great - I don't recognise what you describe above. Main street is far less studenty than Broomhill. Also it has a good community as far as I can tell - Westways school, just natural, friendly local restaurants etc. There appear to be several active church communities too, if that is your thing.

The main street pubs aren't very good, agreed, but the Cobden more than makes up for that.

Nothing against Walkley, but the main street is not in the same league as Crookes.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:


On the subject of pubs though, the Blake is a contender for best pub in Sheffield (nay, the world! ;O)

In reply to Timmd:


They cost much less in the early 2000s - prices in Crookes rocketed around then. We were looking at £65-90k for a 3 bed terrace around 2000. 5 years later, things had doubled.

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: Have you lived in Walkley?

In reply to Horatio:

Yes, for three years. It is a decent neighbourhood, but I much prefer Crookes.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: Ah well, we'll have to agree to disagree

In reply to Horatio:

Why is Walkley better than Crookes? further away from Peaks and the Uni, and scumbags appear as the further you go down the hill

In reply to Monk:

Gosh, I didn't know that.

In reply to Simon_Sheff:

It's cheaper, it has a deeper rooted community, the shops and shopkeepers are nicer (apart from asda, ugh), the bus is better, where I used to live in Walkley is 0.19 miles closer to uni than where I now live in Crookes, it's not so far up the hill, it's downhill from the cob on the way home...

further away from Peaks and the Uni, and scumbags appear as the further you go down the hill

I've seen no more scumbags in Walkley than Crookes (very few in either), there's less crime in Walkley according to my mate but I don't know where she found that out. It is further from the Peak.

This is just my opinion btw, Crookes is a nice area but I just feel it's overpriced and over studented, and I prefer other areas, and I wish someone had told me about Walkley before I moved to Crookes for a year. Which is why I volunteered my opinion to the OP. If the OP was a young student looking for a hip area to get a house share I'd recommend Crookes.