1. Employment

The employment market in Manchester has had one of the highest growths in all on Europe, faster than London, proportionally. With JLL reporting a 30.7% increase since 2016. Even the labour market has seen a growth of 7.7% between 2019-2021. This drives salaries and increases the amount people can afford on rent and property (supply and demand) which then increases property prices and rental yields.

The employment has been driven largely by the number of companies that have moved major operations to the city such as, Unilever, Kellogg’s, Siemens, Amazon, Microsoft and many more.

2. Increase to property prices

Manchester in recent years has seen some of the fastest growing property prices in the UK and is still forecast as one of the highest for the next 5 years. Between 2002 and 2022 (20 years) prices in the Salford area alone have gone from £50,567 to an average of £197,047. This is the highest in the UK for this 20-year period. A full five year forecast on Manchester property can be found here.

3. Increasing rents

With increased prices come increased rents keeping the yields high for investors. With the increased employment driving demand from young professionals. According to Rightmove Manchester had the highest yearly increase in rent price at a staggering 23.4%.

4. Regeneration

Regeneration has been a huge part of Manchester’s recent success, with the like of MediaCityUK along with many mass projects across the city. Billions of pounds have been poured into new infrastructure, commercial, leisure and residential. You can read more about the MediaCityUK regeneration here.

5. International Airport

A major airport can bring a wealth of opportunities to any location. Manchester Airport is the second largest in the UK only behind London Heathrow, operating with 50 Airlines to 146 different locations. There are only 4 airports in the UK that have 2 runways, Manchester is one of them along with Heathrow Edinburgh and Belfast. This helps to make it the international location of the North.

6. Football clubs

On the face of it a famous football club may not seem a major factor. However, there 2 clubs that are easily among the greatest football teams in the world (Manchester City FC and Manchester United). This brings several factors into play.

• International City Brand
• Regeneration to areas surrounding both major stadiums
• An estimated £300m p.a. to the Manchester economy (equivalent to a city that hosts an Olympic Games)
• An estimated £2.5bn spent on advertising the Manchester brand over the next 20 years
• Boost to the Short term let and hotel markets

One great example of how the ingrained nature of football has brought business to the City is when Manchester City FC was purchased in 2008. Money was poured into the club with the purpose of rivalling Manchester United. It is currently the UKs top club (depending on who you ask) far exceeding Manchester United achievements in recent years, this was never the case a decade ago.

7. Connecting towns

Like London, Manchester has a large infrastructure of motorways which supply several satellite towns. These towns bring additional economic boost from day visitors and more skilled workers commuting into the city. Some towns of note are…

• Oldham
• Stockport
• Bolton
• Warrington
• Rochdale

In addition to these satellite towns it also part of a web of other growing cities with quick transport between Leeds, Sheffield, and most of all Liverpool. Even London is Just a 2-hour train journey away.

8. Great shopping and food

The shopping and food lifestyle of an area is key to attracting visitors along with retaining long term residents. Manchester was already famous for curry mile containing some of the most popular Indian cuisine in the country. With the mass of regeneration has come not just every branded restaurant operating in the UK but it has also attracted many high-end restaurant and celebrity chef restaurants. Manchester in now considered one of the UKs top destinations for food lovers.

A quick search on Google for top shopping locations in the UK and Manchester will make every list. Being a major city, every major brand will have a presence, often with a flagship store. The Trafford Centre is one of the older shopping centres and is still hugely popular being one of the World’s most renowned. Large developments such as MediaCityUK has only brought more variety to the city.

9. Recognised by overseas investors

Many factors of Manchester have made it one of the most recognised places in the UK not just for Investors, but most of the world and for many reasons. The factors for this could vary from branding of the football clubs to the international airport or even its music culture producing bands such as Oasis, The Smiths, Take That, The Stone Roses, The Hollie, Elbow, 10cc and many more, have all had an impact on the international stage.

Whatever the reasons are the fact is that it does have a huge international reputation. Asian property platform Juwai.com reported numbers of over 50% more enquiries for Manchester comparing months to the same months in the previous years.

10. Attracts lot of shows and exhibitions and sporting events

With the Manchester Arena, 2 world famous football stadiums and the Lowry in MediaCityUK and MediaCityUK itself among many other venues, Manchester  is a location for many events, exhibitions and a must go stop for any touring shows and bands.

If an artist has ever toured in the UK you can guarantee Manchester was one of its primary spots.

Its young population attracts a lot of art and cultural events from Park life festival, Manchester Day, Grimmfest and many more.

11. Choice between new and old properties/ commercial residential

Manchester is a historical city, with its name dating back as far as The Romans in AD 79 with the fort of Mamucium. In the 16^th Century the towns true roots began as a textile industry and then went through major growth in the 18^th century with the industrial revolution. And since the 1990s has seen regeneration after regeneration project.

This wealth and variety of architecture has correlated directly in the choice of properties in which you can invest. From modern apartments in shiny new towers, to Victorian and Georgian houses and warehouse conversions.

12. Better tenant profiles than other cities

Tenant profile is something that you really don’t experience until you are an experienced investor. Unfortunately, it is true that rougher areas with higher crime (for example) does increase the likelihood of bad tenants renting your properties, this increases the maintenance and/or management fees, it could even double. This majorly effects your bottom line income.

Manchester is attracting a lot of young professionals and young families for many of the reasons already laid out in this article. These long-term tenants can be far more reliable and cause far less logistical issue for you and your property management.

13. MediaCityUK

MediaCItyUK is a huge part of the recent success and future of Manchester. It has not just through direct investments and infrastructure of billions of pounds, but it is encouraging a lot more growth in the wider Salford area of Manchester. With Major companies, more young professionals and more events being moved to the area.

It is a big topic to cover how much MediaCityUK has effected Manchester but you can read this in more details here.

14. Considered capital of the north / leading the northern powerhouse

Mostly for all the reasons above, Manchester is considered the capital of the North for the UK. You can clearly see this from its economy, growth and its locations and infrastructure on the map shown here.

Road and major highway networks are a strong indication for the size and economy of an area and from this map only a few areas stand out. Firstly, you have London, from there you have major Motorways leading up to and around Manchester as the economic hub of the north.