Manchester is booming

With rents, yields and capital gains all soaring around the city centre and beyond, there are plenty in the UK and abroad that see Manchester as the new home of property investment. Where London struggles to offer affordable or manageable rents and prices, Manchester offers value and security.

In a free-market economy, the conditions and environment that Manchester currently enjoys are fertile ground for prosperity but there has been some unease from residents and local politicians that, left unchecked, the market could spiral out of control in much the same way it has across London. With rents in city centre London often exceeding £2,000 per month just for studio apartments, the unease isn’t misplaced and there is a feeling that, unlike the capital, things are going to be done with a level of responsibility. After all, for every well paid young professional tenant there is also a young couple or family looking to buy. One thing that Manchester appears to have going for it is a booming local economy to complement its property market. Issues in other cities have been that whilst rents rise and yields stay strong, wages cannot keep up with the demand.

In the M.E.N’s article, they state that ‘One thing is certain: this wave is big. And it’s set to surge even higher.

Up to 10,000 apartments are either being built or are in the pipeline in Manchester city centre at present, as young professionals flock to the city. Prices are rocketing – up 15%in the last year, according to research from a global property consultant. Rents rose 6.5% in the same period.

Industries currently booming in the city are tech, property and manufacturing. Manchester has a real and intelligent focus on emerging tech and industries such as app development, coding and online creative business.

These well paid jobs along with a city centre that is constantly being updated and improved (many have commented that areas close to Deansgate and Piccadilly are barely recognisable from even ten years ago), have resulted in a real buzz around Manchester. With three world class universities in Manchester and Salford, some of the country’s and Europe’s finest minds are graduating in the North West and setting up home here. With Europe’s busiest student area in the city, many have come to call Manchester home. Foreign investment has also increased rapidly as word spreads that investment into property in Manchester is one of the most astute anywhere in the world. Investors from as far as China and South Africa are flooding in with money as some of the world’s most innovative builds are completed.

It’s not set to slow down anytime soon, either. The M.E.N also quotes property journalist David Thame, who has been covering Manchester’s housing market since the 1980s, as saying that investors are undoubtedly benefiting. He went on to explain that ‘Amazing’ amounts of money are now coming into the city in quantities that are ‘very, very rare’, he points out, but with rents predicted to rise by up to 4.5% every year between now and 2021, investors are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

Read more: https://www.knightknox.com/news/article/manchester-is-booming