It would appear that the Haçienda still retains the capacity to lose money.

According to Miles Brignall in The Guardian, such is the state of negative equity in the Manchester City Centre new-build market that "professional investors [are] clamouring to get out of properties in a desperate attempt to cap their losses".

This exodus is causing a significant drop in the values of the thousands of apartments ('flats for tw@ts' as one piece of Hulme graffitti puts it) that have been, and are still being built, as part of Manchester's 'new urban renaissance'.

"At the landmark development, The Haçienda, flat 213 is being offered for sale for GBP 205,000. The same apartment was bought for GBP 261,000 in April 2004."

The same apartment was initially sold by the developers Crosby Homes ("You can see the Haçienda - it does exist") at GBP 236,000 as new in 2002.

As the original marketing brochure put it: "now the party's over'.

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