Your Move Dundee Local Area Guide

Why live in Dundee?

Dundee is Scotland fourth largest city, located on the northern bank of the River Tay. Established as a burgh in the late 12^thCentury, Dundee established itself as an important east coast trading port. Fast forward a few hundred years and Dundee is a city full of diverse industries; from medical research and bio sciences to comics to being a world renowned centre for video game development. Truly “One city, many discoveries”.

Once renowned for Jute, Jam and Journalism, Dundee has become a vibrant modern twin University city filled with science, historic ships, museums and plenty of culture with theatres, arts centre, cool bars and restaurants. Dundee is also a major retail destination offering everything from two large city centre shopping centres, linked by a pedestrianised street lined with shops and independent traders, to the bustling retail parks lining the city.

Both Universities carry strong international reputations with Abertay being at the centre of the city's reputation as a global destination for video games development.

Stretching out from the city you will find an array of smaller towns and villages each with their own history and plenty to offer such as Kirriemuir, the birthplace of Peter Pan and gateway to the wonderful Angus Glens. The nearby historic market town of Forfar, once the centre of the Ancient Kingdom of the Picts, and nearby Glamis Castle. Picturesque Broughty Ferry with its vibrant High Street, Castle, Yacht Club and proud ties to the fishing industry and Carnoustie with its world wide reputation in Golf through the iconic Championship Course. The nearby towns of Newport on Tay and Tayport, with its wonderful harbour, also provide easy connections to St Andrews and other parts of Fife.

The area is rich with recreational pursuits to suit all tastes be that hillwalking, climbing, mountain biking, walking, running, sailing, golfing, archery or quad biking to name but a few. You will not tire of ways to spend your free time.

The local market

The housing market in Dundee and the surrounding area is extremely diverse catering for all tastes. From wonderful Victorian mansions & traditional period apartments to stunning new build developments of executive apartments and family homes on the city outskirts and all home types inbetween. The city itself has many different areas all offering a different feel and outlook, from modernised apartment complexes within the old mills & factories, townhouses overlooking the river, to tree lined streets and bungalows with wide open green spaces.

The surrounding towns and villages offer plenty of additional choice and competitive pricing should you want to escape the city feel while still being within an easy commute to work.

Demand for properties in the area is not restricted to local buyers and tenants. As a regional employment centre a number of potential buyers are drawn to the area and this is reflected in the number of new build developments in and around the city. With a high percentage of student population and attractive rental yields the city also offers great opportunities for Investors.

Location

There is wide variety of residents in the area ranging from the transient students who may only be around for a few years to those who have lived and worked in the area their whole lives. Dundee itself is situated just over 60 miles from Edinburgh and 66 miles from Aberdeen. Approximately 860,000 of the population are within 1 hours drive of the city. As a major regional employment centre Dundee is is well placed to draw buyers to the local market and also act as a strong commuter base to other parts of the country with easy access to major road and rail networks and with Edinburgh Airport just over an hour away providing regular air links to London and beyond.

History and Sport

The city of Dundee has a forged a rich and varied history since its formation as a burgh in 1292. It quickly established itself as an important east coast trading port before seeing rapid expansion during the industrial revolution in the 19^th century when Dundee became the centre of the global jute industry which also saw a rise in whaling and ship building. RRS Discovery, the ship used by Captain Scott for his first successful exploration to the Antarctic,was built in Dundee at the turn of the 19^th century and can still be found there today, berthed at Discovery Point, sited next to the V&A Museum.

While the city's economy was dominated by the jute industry, it also became widely known through James Keiller & Sons pioneering commercial marmalade production.

Whilst these industries are clearly no longer active the city continues to carry a strong international reputation for the work undertaken in the biomedical and biotechnology sectors, together with being a global centre for information technology and video game development, which have been important industries to the city for over 20 years.

There are a wide variety of sporting activities to be enjoyed in the area.

The city's two professional football clubs, Dundee (est.1893) and Dundee United (est.1909) have grounds which are closer together than any other in the UK being only 100 meters apart. The city is also represented in ice hockey by Dundee Stars who play their home games at the Dundee Ice Arena, and in rugby by Dundee High School F.P.

Local sports clubs cover other sports such as Hockey, Cricket, Handball, Swimming and Running amongst others.

Development

Dundee continues to offer plenty of opportunity for new build developers of both national and local scale. This is evident in a variety of ongoing and proposed developments covering a variety of property types from executive new build riverside apartments, through conversion and refurbishment of mills and older buildings to new residential developments of various sized family homes and bungalows.

Through our dedicated Land and New Homes team, and their extensive experience, we are able to offer individual tailored support and advice to developers of all sizes.

Properties

We are always on the look out for new properties in all areas and will happily cover everything from compact one bedroom tenement flats, ideal buy to let investment properties with great yields, through individually designed executive detached villas, to unique and quirky rural retreats. At any time the properties we have available for sale and rental will reflect this and hopefully offer something to suit all tastes and budgets.

Restaurants and shopping

Dundee city centre offers an exceptional mix of modern shopping with multi-national well known high street stores and small local independent shops and boutiques. The two big shopping centres, Overgate and Wellgate are linked by the lragely pedestrianised High Street, which branches onto other side streets where you can find a wide array of local shops.

The Overgate is the biggest of the centres and it has great selection of jewellers, perfume shops, Next, H&M, River Island, Primark and New Look to name a few for those of you looking for a fashion fix. The Wellgate caters for shops such as Home Bargains, Superdrug, B&M and Poundland but there are also many independent retailers.

Dundee may well be best known for Marmalade and Dundee Cake, but the modern food and drink scene has a great selection of unique local pubs, bars, contemporary restaurants, cafes/coffee houses and takeaways. The best of Dundee’s restaurants, offering a wide array of international cuisine, can be found near the City Centre, but there's also plenty to be enjoyed in the Nethergate and along Perth Road.

Only 10 minute drive away from the city centre is the popular suburb of Broughty Ferry which has it's own high street with a mix of unique independent shops and a few big coffee shop chains. There's also an exciting blend of local pubs and restaurants.