Property boom in Manchester – Tony Freeman looks at the Northern Powerhouse in action
4th April 2017Manchester city centre is experiencing a property boom, as reported in the latest Home Track Index, released in February 2017.
The Hometrack UK Cities Price index, the only index that analyses at a city level across 20 cities and nationally, has revealed that the Northern Powerhouse cities of Manchester, Liverpool and Preston are experiencing a property boom.
The ‘Northern Powerhouse’ described in a government report, as “a North which has a vibrant and growing economy, acts as a magnet for inward investment, and which capitalises on the strengths of Northern cities to build a Northern Powerhouse”, will have helped push Manchester to the forefront of the UK’s property growth.
Although city house price growth has slowed nationally to 6.4% year on year (yoy) across the UK compared to 7.8% a year earlier, the South East, and in particular London, is where growth has really slowed down, placing it tenth in the growth rankings. The overall slowdown of growth in London to 5.6 per cent is its lowest since 2013, and is dragging down the overall headline growth.
However, there is still cities of strong growth, with Manchester leading the pack as the fastest growing city in the UK.
In a joint publication in 2015 by Government, Northern city regions and Local Enterprise Partnerships, working together and with Highways England, Network Rail and HS2 Ltd as the Transport for the North Partnership Board, described their goal for the Northern Powerhouse as a “…shared aim…to transform Northern growth, rebalance the country’s economy and establish the North as a global powerhouse.” And it’s working.
Attracting much media attention, the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ of Manchester in particular has seen a lot of investment, both domestic and internationally. Not to mention the extension to the Metrolink tram system, the moving of BBC and Granada studios to Media City in Salford, plans for expansion at Manchester airport, as well as improvements to the transport infrastructure around Greater Manchester, making the city very attractive to investors.
It looks like Manchester’s boom is set to continue with further investment and expansion planned.
The list below sets out the top 20 cities with Manchester, the fastest growing city covered by the index (8.8%), followed by Portsmouth, Bristol and Glasgow.
The following is a break-down of the top 20 cities and year-on-year growth:
1. Manchester, £151,800, 8.8%
2. Portsmouth, £225,600, 8.1%
3. Bristol, £261,900, 8%
4. Glasgow, £117,900, 7.7%
5. Birmingham, £148,300, 7.4%
6. Leicester, £162,400, 7.2%
7. Liverpool, £115,600, 6.8%
8. Bournemouth, £275,500, 6.2%
9. Southampton, £220,600, 6%
10. London, £488,700, 5.6%
10. Sheffield, £130,800, 5.6%
10. Nottingham, £140,700, 5.6%
13.Edinburgh, £203,900, 5.5%
14. Leeds, £154,800, 5%
14. Cardiff, £193,700, 5%
16. Belfast, £127,700, 3.8%
17. Newcastle, £123,800, 3.7%
18. Oxford, £409,700, 3.4%
19. Cambridge, £418,400, 2.2%
20. Aberdeen £181,600 minus 5.9%