米其林餐廳助推周邊房產繁榮

The awarding of a Michelin star to a provincial restaurant can bestow cachet, distinction and recognition — not to mention keep the doors open. But according to a new survey by estate agent Knight Frank, it might have wider-reaching benefits — such as boosting local house prices.

一家餐廳如果獲得米其林星級的話，不僅有很好的經營前景，還能得到榮譽、聲望和認可。但根據一項來自房地產經紀商萊坊(Knight Frank)的新調查，獲得這項榮耀還會有另外的好處，比如提高當地房價。

Building on research that the agent carried out for the Financial Times in 2013, which examined the impact of Michelin-starred restaurants in London, Knight Frank has compiled a list of 29 top eateries outside the capital and compared the house price growth within a 5km radius against their wider local authorities.

萊坊在2013年爲英國《金融時報》調查了倫敦米其林星級餐廳的影響力。在這項研究的基礎上，該房產經紀商列出了29個首都以外的頂級餐館，並以其爲圓點，將其所在行政區內5公里半徑內外的房價增長做了比較。

To qualify, there needed to be at least 6,000 sales surrounding the restaurant in the year following the award — and, in some cases, the uplift was calculated at being More than 5 per cent. So should investors be rushing out to follow the next Michelin Guide? Well, not exactly.

要符合比較標準，在餐館獲獎後的一年裏，其周邊至少要有6000筆買賣交易——並且在某些情況下，上漲幅度需超過5%。因此，投資者應該急着跟進下一本米其林指南嗎？嗯……也不完全是。

“We’re not equating the presence of a restaurant to price rises directly,” says Oliver Knight, who led the research team, “but it’s certainly something that has an impact.”

“我們並沒有把米其林餐廳的存在與否與房價的上漲畫上直接的等號。” 研究小組負責人奧利弗•萊特(Oliver Knight)說，“但其中肯定有影響。”

Topping the table is Restaurant Tristan in Horsham, West Sussex, which, according to the research, helped local house prices outperform the county’s average by 5.6 per cent in the year after it was awarded a star in 2013.

位列清單榜首的是在英國西薩塞克斯郡(West Sussex)霍舍姆鎮(Horsham)的特里斯坦餐廳(Restaurant Tristan)。研究顯示，特里斯坦餐廳被授予米其林一星後的一年，在2013年幫助附近房價漲幅超出該郡平均增加幅度5.6%。

Owner and head chef Tristan Mason is delighted, if slightly baffled by the news.

店主兼廚師長特里斯坦•梅森(Tristan Mason)聽到消息後感到很高興，也有一點困惑。

Knight says: “The biggest hitters already have good housing stock but when you add to that things like good shops and restaurants it adds to the appeal of an area,” he says. “Of course, you’re left with the question of ‘what happens first’.”

“最熱門的住宅已經很有賣點了，但如果再加上好的商店和餐館這些因素，當地的吸引力就會又增加了。”萊特說。“當然，接下來的問題就是‘到底什麼是最重要的？’”

Why did Mason set up in Horsham’s East Street? First, the quality of the local produce is great — about 90 per cent of his suppliers are based within five miles, he estimates — he even picks his own garlic on the way to work. And it is a nice place to be.

爲什麼梅森會把餐廳開在霍舍姆的東大街(East Street)？首先，當地的農產品質量是極好的——他估計，餐廳大約90%的供應商都是在五英里的距離內——他甚至能在上班的路上自己挑選大蒜。此外，這裏也很適合居住。

“Horsham is a great little market town and has a lot going for it,” he says. “It’s good for families — and I have a family — and there wasn’t much in the way of restaurants, so I thought there was a gap in the market.”

“霍舍姆是個很好的小市鎮，未來還有很大的發展空間。”他說。“這裏對家庭來說是個好地方——我也有一個家庭——而且這裏沒有太多的餐廳，於是我覺得這個市場有個缺口。”

Edward Jackson, a local property agent from Strutt & Parker, is inclined to agree. “When Tristan opened, East Street was little more than a few charity shops; now the locals call it ‘Eat Street’ [because] there are so many good restaurants there.”

斯特拉特&帕克(Strutt & Parker)房產的當地代理人愛德華•傑克遜(Edward Jackson)也頗有同感。“特里斯坦開業的時候，東大街最多隻有幾家慈善商店；現在，當地人稱它爲‘食街’，因爲這裏有很多好吃的餐廳。”

Jackson says that most of his buyers are families from London looking for a bit more space and access to the area’s highly regarded schools.

傑克遜說，他的大多數買家都是來自倫敦的家庭，他們想在這裏尋求更寬廣的空間和該地區廣受好評的學校。

Jackson is marketing a five-bedroom Victorian home with a large back garden on Gordon Road for £870,000, while Knight Frank is selling a three-bedroom cottage in central Horsham, a short walk from Restaurant Tristan, for £695,000.

傑克遜正在營銷一棟位於戈登路(Gordon Road)上、有一個很大後花園的五房維多利亞樣式的住宅，售價爲87萬英鎊。而萊坊則正在以69.5萬英鎊銷售一套在霍舍姆中央，離特里斯坦餐廳步行即可到達的三房別墅。

But can the restaurant really have boosted prices? Jackson is hesitant at first. “We do have a property in the centre of Horsham that we’re marketing and we mention Tristan [in the brochure] so it must form part of the appeal,” he says.

但是這家餐廳真的提高了周圍房產價格嗎？傑克遜在一開始是猶豫的。“我們在營銷一個位於霍舍姆中央的房產時，確實在手冊裏提到了特里斯坦餐廳，它肯定是吸引買家的賣點之一。”他說。

Maximising on a growing market is one thing but, according to the research, a Michelin star can also help shield prices from collapse. Coming second on Knight Frank’s list, Ynyshir Hall, near Machynlleth in west Wales, helped the tiny market town stave off the worst losses of the downturn. Awarded a star when house prices were in decline in 2010, the 10-bedroom hotel allegedly caused the local area to achieve a modest 0.4 per cent growth over the next 12 months, while all around fell 5 per cent.

在上升的市場上有助於價值最大化只是其中一個方面，研究顯示，米其林星級餐廳也可以幫助防止房地產價格崩盤。萊坊名單上的第二位是在威爾士(Wales)西部，靠近馬漢萊斯(Machynlleth)的伊尼希爾廳(Ynyshir Hall)，它幫助該小鎮避開了經濟衰退期最嚴重的損失。在2010年房價下跌時，這家10個房間的酒店獲得了米其林一星。據稱，在接下來的12個月裏，當週邊地區房價下跌了5%時，它還爲當地實現0.4%的小幅增長。

The chef responsible, Shane Hughes, has since left Ynyshir Hall, but his replacement Gareth Ward regained the star last year. Owner Joan Reen — who has run the boutique hotel with her husband since 1989 — says that not only is Ynyshir Hall popular with the people of Machynlleth, it is instrumental to the town’s economy, luring tourists from across the world.

當時主掌的廚師沙恩•休斯(Shane Hughes)已經離開伊尼希爾廳了，但他的繼任者加瑞斯•沃德(Gareth Ward)在去年爲酒店重獲米其林一星。1989年以來就一直與她丈夫經營精品酒店的老闆娘瓊•雷尼(Joan Reen)指出，伊尼希爾餐廳不僅受到馬漢萊斯居民的歡迎，也對該鎮的經濟非常有幫助，吸引來自世界各地的遊客。

She’s ambitious, too, for the next survey. “When Gareth wins a second star, we’ll be going for first place,” jokes Reen.

她對下一次的調查也很有雄心。“當加瑞斯贏得第二顆星時，我們的目標就是第一名了。”她開着玩笑說。

On the other side of the river Dovey from Ynyshir Hall, Strutt & Parker is selling a six-bedroom farmhouse, Braich Y Celyn Hall, which dates back 400 years, for £1.15m.

離開伊尼希爾廳，在多維河(Dovey)的另一邊，特拉特&帕克房產經紀商正以115萬英鎊的價格銷售Braich Y Celyn廳，一棟擁有400年曆史的六房農舍。

Third place goes to Alimentum in Cambridge, which, in the year after winning a Michelin star in 2013, saw local houses achieve a 5.2 per cent premium on the wider market.

第三名是劍橋(Cambridge)的Alimentum。在2013年獲得米其林一星後,幫助當地房產實現了5.2%的溢價。

However, Ed Meyer of Savills, isn’t sure that the restaurant is driving the outperformance. “It’s a benefit, certainly,” he says, “but that area of the city [near the station] has seen a lot of development over the past few years.” He counts improved rail links to London, the opening of the Microsoft Research Facility and an abundance of new housing built nearby as being far more instrumental in the uplift.

然而，第一太平戴維斯(Savills)的愛德•邁爾(Ed Meyer)並不確定米其林星級餐廳的存在就是價格優勢的原因。“這當然是一個優勢,”他說,“但城市車站附近的區域在過去幾年裏發展得很快。”他指出，改良後的到倫敦的鐵路、微軟研究設施的開張、以及附近大量建造的新住宅，都更有助於提升價格。

What the research doesn’t show is what happened to the markets after the first year of Michelin recognition. The star awarded in 2012 to the Driftwood hotel, near Portscatho in Cornwall, seemingly caused local house prices to rise 2 per cent in the following year, while those in the local authority fell 1.3 per cent. However, at the end of 2013 severe storms and flooding hit the area, damaging the local market.

這項研究沒能顯示出獲得米其林認可後的第一年裏對周邊房產市場的影響。在2012年獲獎、位於康沃爾郡海濱城市Portscatho附近的漂流木酒店(Driftwood hotel)，似乎引起當地房價在第二年上漲了2%，而整個地區的房價卻下跌了1.3%。然而，嚴重的風暴和該地區在2013年年底受到的洪水襲擊，破壞了當地市場。

“Last year was a bit of a write-off for Cornwall,” says Knight Frank’s Christopher Bailey, who thinks the destruction of the Dawlish railway line in February 2014 caused some to think of the county as a risk for investment. “Since January it’s all changed; we’ve seen a marked improvement.”

“去年康沃爾郡有點滯銷。”萊坊的克里斯托弗•貝利(Christopher Bailey)說，他認爲2014年2月被摧毀的德力士鐵路(Dawlish)使一些人覺得投資該縣會有風險。”但今年1月以來，一切都改變了,我們看得到明顯的改善。”

For Bailey, it is not the presence of any one business that can affect prices, but the interaction of many.

對貝利而言，影響價格的並不是任何單一商業的存在，而是許多商業之間的互動。

“The Driftwood is part of a collection of restaurants in Cornwall — Nathan Outlaw has recently opened a place in Rock and there’s Rick Stein’s in Padstow [both on the north coast].

“康沃爾最近開了一批餐廳，納森•奧特洛(Nathan Outlaw)最近在洛克(Rock)開了一家餐廳，瑞克斯坦則選在帕德斯托(Padstow)開業，兩家都在北海岸。漂流木酒店只是這一批中的一個。

“Not all of them are Michelin-starred, but they give people confidence that if they are going to buy a first or second home out here this far west, then there will be things to do and good eating around them.”

“那些餐廳並非全都有米其林星級，但它們帶給人們信心，如果他們要在這麼遙遠的西部買他們的第一或第二個家，周邊得有事可做和有好吃的。”

Along the coast, in St Mawes, Savills is selling a four-bedroom Victorian house with a private mooring for £2m.

沿着海岸，在聖莫斯(St Mawes)，第一太平戴維斯在以兩百萬英鎊的價格出售一棟擁有一個私人停船區的四房維多利亞式房子。

A note of caution, though: if you hear that a local restaurant has been awarded a Michelin star, you might just want to hold off popping champagne corks just yet. While the majority of restaurants achieved an uplift, The Butchers Arms in Eldersfield, near Gloucester, has the dubious honour of coming bottom of the league, seeming to encourage negative growth in its surrounding area. Awarded the star in 2011, the following 12 months saw local house prices dip 0.6 per cent, underperforming the wider market by 1.9 per cent.

不過，提醒一聲:如果你聽說當地餐廳獲得了米其林一星，你可能還得延緩一下開啓香檳大肆慶祝的念頭。雖然大多數的獲獎餐館引發了周邊房產的價格上漲，在埃爾德斯菲爾德(Eldersfield)的格洛斯特(Gloucester)附近，“屠夫手臂”(Butchers Arms)餐廳莫名其妙得到了墊底的“榮譽”，似乎激勵了周邊地區的負增長。2011年獲獎，在接下來的12個月裏，當地房價下跌了0.6%，表現遜於該地區房產市場平均1.9%的升幅。

Surely it can’t be the food? Nick Chivers, from Knight Frank, laughs. “No, it’s jolly good,” he says. “The truth is 2012 was just a bit of a duff year for us.” Chivers blames the pub’s rural location for the slump.

肯定不能說是食物的錯吧?萊坊的尼克•奇弗斯(Nick Chivers)笑着說。“不，食物是真的好吃。”他說。“事實是，2012年對我們來說只是個有點糟糕的年份。”奇弗斯將衰退歸罪於酒吧偏僻的位置。

“The recovery [from the 2008 crash] was just getting going by then and, away from places like Gloucester and Cheltenham, the markets did falter,” he says.

“經濟復甦從2008年的崩盤後纔剛剛開始，在遠離類似格洛斯特和切爾滕納姆(Cheltenham)之類的地方，市場還不太穩定。”他說。

“If you took the data from the beginning of this year, then it would be a different story: you might see a 3 per cent to 4 per cent increase.”

“如果你看看今年年初到現在的數據，那麼將是一個不同的故事：你可能會看到3%到4%的增長。”

It is an analysis that Oliver Knight agrees with. “Most of the bigger gains are from busier communities,” he says, “and that fits in with a wider trend we’ve seen for urban living, where people don’t want to be in really rural places, they still want access to shops and transport and good restaurants.”

奧利弗萊特同意這個分析。“大部分較大的房產市場的收益來自於更加繁榮的社區。”他說，“這跟我們所看到的城市生活的大趨勢相符合————人們不想呆在真正的鄉下地區，他們仍然希望呆在商店多、交通方便和餐館好的地方。”

Photographs: Josh Packham; Toby Phillips; Cloudbase Photography; Full Fat Photography; David Griffen

攝影:喬希•帕克漢(Josh Packham);託比•菲利普斯(Toby Phillips);克盧巴塞攝影(Cloudbase Photography);全脂攝影(Full Fat Photography);大衛•格里芬(David Griffen)