Manchester Market Insight – Q1 2021
By John Parker, Business Development Director
Manchester has long been regarded as the UK’s go-to market for buy-to-rent investors who have enjoyed sustained year on year rental and capital growth. Values in the centre of Manchester have nearly doubled since 2008 and rental values have increased year on year by 5 – 6%. With prices in super-prime Manchester starting from £245,000 for a 1-bedroom apartment, the challenge now for investors is to find pockets of Manchester that are still undervalued and primed for long term rental and capital growth.
This significant growth wouldn’t be possible without the influx of professionals seeking convenient rental accommodation in Manchester city centre. In fact, Generation Y (those born in the 80’s and 90’s) makes up 89% of the city ’s population growth, which fuels the growing demand year after year.
As a result of Manchester continued property market growth, London is seeing less and less prominence. Average property prices in the capital decreased by 4.1% in 2019, whilst rental growth dipped to its lowest since October 2010. In contrast, Manchester ’s average property prices increased by 5.5% and rental values increased by 6.5%.
Manchester Market Snapshot
SALES MARKET
M=Capital Growth
6 postcodes in Manchester enjoyed the highest national property price increases in 2020
1/3
The average apartment in Manchester is just over a third of the price of a London apartment
149%
Manchester’s population has grown by 149% since 2002
30.0%
Manchester property values up 34.36% over past 4 years
RENTAL MARKET
6.0%
Manchester postcodes boast some of the highest Average buy-to-rent yields in the UK, at 6.0%
4.20%
Manchester rents predicted to rise by 4.2% per year for the next 5 years
2 weeks
The average property is let within 2 weeks of going to market
43.0%
At 43%, Manchester has one of the highest proportion of private renters in the UK
Our newest launch, Town Square is located in the urban village of Eccles which has just been confirmed by Rightmove in January of this year as the UK’s top performing market hotspot in 2020 with a staggering 16% increase in property values.
Eccles, on the west side of Manchester, has been named as the property hot spot of 2020, with prices rising faster than anywhere else in Britain according to the property website Rightmove. Just 12 months ago the average asking price in this undervalued pocket of Manchester was £184,299 compared with £213,703 at the start of the year.
Eccles is one of three Manchester suburbs in the top-five fastest rising areas of 2020, with the other two also in the north of England. In a dramatic reversal to rankings in previous years, a wealthy London commuter town, Sevenoaks, was named by Rightmove as the location where the average price fell the steepest during 2020, falling from £693,569 to £681,069.
Eccles benefits from nearly every acknowledged contributory to a top performing residential property market benefiting from excellent transport links and academic credentials. Located just five miles west from Central Manchester, Town Square is under 12 minutes by Train or Metrolink to anywhere in the city centre and there are 24 schools within a 2-mile radius rated good or outstanding by Ofsted.
ECCLES is THE UK’s BEST PERFORMING pOSTCODE & named as the property hot spot of 2020
Eccles, home of the iconic cakes and located west of Manchester, has seen a bigger annual increase in average asking prices than anywhere else in Britain, up 16%. The national average increase is 6.6%. Average asking prices in the town have risen from £184,299 in 2019 to £213,706 this year.

Source: Rightmove.com