Manchester, the second capital of the UK
Manchester is referred to as the UK’s second capital thanks to its booming economy, and the city is an attractive alternative for young professionals priced out of London.
In fact, Manchester has become so attractive, 54,000 people moved here since 2009, and it's estimated another 96,000 will live in Manchester by 2024.
Though the city’s property market has been stabilizing over the past seven years, and almost 9,000 new homes are expected to complete by the end of 2018/19. Demand is still set to far outstrip supply, as completions aren’t expected to exceed 2,000 per year until 2017/18.
This is all great news to property investors. High demand ensures high rental yields, and that property is easily let to students (there are 70,000+ in the city alone) or young professionals priced out of London. In 2015, the city had a rental vacancy rate of only 2%. No wonder foreign property investors poured over £3.4bn into prime Manchester property in 2014.
If those figures weren’t enough, recent research by HSBC revealed Manchester had the second-highest yields for buy-to-let investors in the UK, averaging 7.98%.
Employers are choosing Manchester
Retail giant Amazon has announced it’s building a 250,000 sq. ft. warehouse near Manchester Airport, creating over 1,000 permanent jobs over three years.
The average salary in Manchester rose 15% in the eight years to 2015, and employment figures increased 8% in the five years from 2010. Figures are estimated to grow by around 16% in the next 20 years.
Manchester is expected to outperform cities like Paris, Berlin and Tokyo in job growth over the next five years, with an estimated increase of 3.8% between 2015 and 2020, according to growth experts at Oxford Economics.
The ninth strongest regional economy in Europe
Manchester is the ninth strongest regional economy in Europe, beating cities like Edinburgh, Berlin and Barcelona, according to property consultant JLL. It’s also the strongest functional economic area outside of London. A true engine of the Northern Powerhouse.
Manchester had a GVA of 2.5% in 2015/16, exceeding the UK average of 2.3% and putting it in the top performing cities.
This is set to continue to grow even further as HS2 is introduced in the area. Connectivity will pull more business to the area, and around 180,000 new jobs will be created in the region by 2040.
Proposals for a line connecting Manchester and Leeds have been made under the name HS3. Though the two cities are only 40 miles away, journey times can take over 2h by car in rush hour, and between 49 minutes and one hour by train. The project, HS3, would take travel time down to 40 minutes by 2022 and down to 30 minutes once phase 2 completes.
Why invest in Manchester property?
To find out more reasons to invest in Manchester read our ‘Manchester Property Investment Guide‘ now!
- Great transport links set to improve
- A booming regional economy outperforming some of Europe's capitals
- Strong job growth estimated for next five years
- A high student population
- Billions worth of regeneration investment underway
- Employers are flocking to Manchester – creating thousands of jobs
To discover more about property investment opportunities in Manchester and beyond, call the team on +44 (0) 207 923 6100, download your free Manchester Property Investment Guide or check out our available property!
Cheers,
James Cox
