Manchester: The UK's New 'Property Powerhouse’?

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Manchester’s Property Market Outperforms London and Other Major Cities

Analysis from quick sale specialists Open Property Group declared Manchester a ‘new property price powerhouse’.

While London was previously seen as the most lucrative and stable property market for UK property investors, unaffordable prices and stalled growth have caused many to turn their eyes to alternative cities. In particular, regions in the North of England, such as the North West, are becoming more appealing for buy-to-let investing, and this latest research seems to confirm these trends.

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Why is Manchester’s Property Market Gaining More Attention?

To source this data, Open Property Group looked at the latest Government house price figures and compared property price performance over the last year in 10 major UK cities.

They found that the Manchester property market has outperformed other cities by an impressive margin when it comes to house prices. It registered an annual house price growth of 5.8%. Other significant cities posited growth on a smaller scale, such as Leeds (+0.6%) and Newcastle (+2.1%). Northern cities, in general, are outperforming the South, leading many investors to look for the best investment properties in Northern regions.

CEO of Open Property Group, Jason Harris-Cohen, said: “In contrast to Birmingham, Manchester has gone from strength in recent years, and while it may be looking to cement its place as the nation’s ‘second city’, it’s fair to say that it’s outperformed even London when it comes to current house price performance.”

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What is Happening in Other Areas?

The property market has been sluggish in the past year, with market activity subdued due to higher mortgage rates and the cost of living crisis. Looking at the overall England average, there was negative growth of -1.5% year-on-year.

This downward trend was observed in seven of the ten cities included in Open Property Group’s research. London was hit the worst with a -3.9 % decrease in property prices, while Bradford (-3.8 %) and Birmingham (-2.3 %) also experienced some of the most significant price declines.

Buy-to-let properties in London are becoming less attractive, and regions like the North West are becoming property hotspots. Looking at another North West area, the latest UK House Price Index shows that Liverpool property prices also avoided the dip and have displayed a yearly change of +1.8%. The North West region has demonstrated growth of +1.4% overall, suggesting the area has resilient markets in the face of a challenging year for property.

To learn more about the UK’s property hotspots, take a look at some of our buy-to-let area guides covering topics such as investment property available in Croydon and investment property available in Bournemouth.