Timber Yard

Timber Yard is a 379-apartment development on Pershore Street in Birmingham’s Southside district — the area that takes in the Gay Village and the Chinese Quarter, just south of the Bullring. It was built by a joint venture of Galliard Homes and Apsley House Capital, designed by Claridge Architects, and completed around 2021 across two buildings: an East Block of 13 storeys and a West Block of seven. At launch it was billed as the first large-scale private-sale residential scheme Southside had seen in a decade — the development that reopened the district to owner-occupiers and investors.

The fact that shapes a purchase today is the same one that applies to any sold-out landmark: every apartment sold off-plan, so the developer’s primary sales are closed. The way in now is the resale market (individual owners re-selling through the portals) or the rental market. This profile is written for that reality.

There is no developer price list — the scheme sold out off-plan from around £199,000 at launch. What you see today are resale and rental listings: as of July 2026, resale asking prices ran from roughly £200,000 for a one-bed to around £338,500 for a two-bed. Treat those as asking prices, not verified sold values — cross-check against Land Registry sold data, because a share of Southside resale stock is investor-marketed.

At these prices a first-time buyer pays no stamp duty up to £300,000, so a one-bed is duty-free; a £338,500 two-bed costs a first-time buyer £1,925, or a second-home buyer £26,925 with the 5% surcharge (check yours on the stamp duty guide). The number that moves your real cost most is the service charge — unpublished in the listings we saw and, given the gym, lounge and screening room, not trivial. Run the full picture through the full cost of buying guide before you offer.

Timber Yard’s pitch is its Southside setting. You are in the middle of Birmingham’s Gay Village and Chinese Quarter, beside the Hippodrome theatre, a few minutes’ walk from the Bullring, New Street and Grand Central, with the Southern Gateway and wholesale-markets regeneration reshaping the streets nearby. For a young professional who wants nightlife, culture and the station on the doorstep, the location is a genuine draw that the quieter new-build quarters can’t match.

The honest counterpoint: Southside is a lively, late-night district — the same energy that sells it also means noise and weekend crowds, and it is emphatically a city-centre-flat location rather than a family one, with the everyday essentials and school catchments that families need found elsewhere. Visit at different times, including a weekend night, before you commit.

Because the scheme is completed and occupied, a resale purchase is financed as a normal residential or buy-to-let mortgage — none of the off-plan timing risk of a scheme still under construction. On a £200,000 one-bed, a 10% deposit is £20,000 and a single income around £40,000–£45,000 typically supports the borrowing at standard multiples; check your own numbers on how much can I borrow and the affordability calculator.

Two lender realities specific to this building. The service charge feeds the affordability assessment — an amenity-funded charge (once you have it in writing) reduces what a lender will advance, so get it before you apply. And some lenders cap exposure to a single large development or scrutinise blocks with high investor/rental concentration — a broker who knows the Birmingham new-build market is worth having for a purchase here.

The letting case is solid: one-beds rent at roughly £1,050–£1,300 a month against ~£200,000 resale prices, supporting rough gross yields around 6–7%, in a Southside location with strong, consistent young-professional demand. Being completed and tenant-ready removes the off-plan risk that shadows new-build investment stock — you can see the flat, the management and the rent roll.

The discipline, stated plainly. The quoted yields are gross, before the service charge — and the charge is unverified and amenity-funded, so until you hold the schedule the net figure is unknown. Add that this is an investor-marketed resale market where asking prices can run ahead of sold values, and that Birmingham city-centre supply keeps competing for tenants. Sized on real net figures, Timber Yard is a credible completed-stock BTL; just don’t bank the gross number.

• Service charge first: it wasn’t published in the listings we checked — get the current figure and history in writing before you offer; the amenity package makes it material.
• Asking ≠ sold: check every resale price against Land Registry sold data before forming a view.
• Primary market is closed: there is no developer deal to negotiate — you buy from an individual owner or an investment reseller.
• Southside is lively: nightlife and weekend crowds come with the location — visit at different times, including a weekend night.
• Lease details: confirm lease length, ground rent and any parking allocation on the specific unit.

Weighing the returns? See Buy-to-Let in Birmingham, compare the completed Gun Quarter option at Snow Hill Wharf, or browse everything in Property Intelligence.