In The Press

Cheers! Ward’s Brewery sold in a £18 million property deal

Knight Frank has sold the entire second phase of apartments at Sheffield’s prestigious Ward’s Brewery in a £18 million deal – one of the biggest ever seen in the city.

How is it for you? Rosie Millard asks investors, with portfolios from one flat to hundreds, what they look for and how they see the future

THE CONTRACT FLIPPER Manoj Raithatha, 34 Portfolio size: undisclosed because sells on Portfolio value: undisclosed because of multiple trading partners Started buying: 2000 Still buying: yes

At the cutting edge. Sheffield is the next big thing in northern regeneration, reports Jayne Dowle

It’s not the sort of thing you expect from an estate agent. But there is much that is unexpected about Sheffield. “You’ve got all the students staying on, and the growth of local IT companies, which is fuelling the market,” says Tearle Phelan, head of the estate agency Knight Frank in Sheffield, “and then, of course, you’ve got the Arctic Monkeys.”

A vision of the North

Five years ago, Manoj Raithatha was a struggling teacher-cum-playwright in south London. Today, he's making a fortune, wheeling and dealing in flats in the North. How does he do it? Angela Pertusini meets him in Leeds

He ain't worried. Rosie Millard meets a landlord with the balls to spend £34.5m

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Remember those long silences at dinner parties? The rude e-mails? The even ruder letters? In terms of social acceptance, being a buy-to-let landlady ain’t what it used to be.

Tycoon buys tower block in biggest deal at £35m

Property magnate at 33 who set out aiming to fund his love of writing buys 209 yet-to-be-built city centre flats Exclusive Joanne Ginley

Bradford is just brilliant!

Property tycoon Manoj Raithatha's Summertime Properties company has just bought the VM2 apartments complex at Shipley's Victoria Mills complex for £20 million.

PA features

The remarkable sale of more than 200 apartments off-plan in a fashionable area of central Leeds is clear evidence that investors intend to keep putting money into bricks and mortar despite "doomsday" warnings of falling prices.

Summertime seals £30m Docklands Property Deal

One of Britain’s most prolific property investors today sealed a deal worth over £30 million to buy a luxury apartment development in the middle of London’s Docklands. The purchase of 102-apartments at Limehouse Basin – just five minutes from Canary Wharf – is Summertime Properties’ first major deal in the capital.

How Manoj Raithatha did it

How do you build a £200m property empire from £100,000 in five years? Just ask Manoj Raithatha. You’ll never become a millionaire by writing. I’ve won an Edinburgh fringe award, been short-listed for an Emmy and picked up a Bafta for a comedy series I wrote for the BBC, but the most I ever got was a few grand per script. I realised that I’d have to do something else to earn some serious money.