Manchester Property Price Forecast 2025

As the gem of the north, Manchester is one of the must-watch locations for smart investors in the UK. With impressive projected growth across both sales and lettings, huge opportunities for new businesses, and a swathe of developments and regeneration in the pipeline, it’s no secret that Manchester is grabbing the attention of investors not just in the UK, but across the globe.

As home to huge business hubs such as Amazon, huge factories for Heinz and Astra-Zenica, Google’s only UK office outside of London, and the joint head office of ITV, it’s safe to say that Manchester attracts some of the most established organisations across the globe. And that’s not all – new businesses are flocking to the city, with Amazon and Microsoft being just two of the many businesses setting up in Manchester. The city’s reputation as a business and investment hub is creating new job opportunities, increased property demand and rising prices.

As a northern city, investors needn’t worry about paying London prices for properties in Manchester. At the time of writing, properties sell for an average of £234,867 in the city according to the Land Registry UK House Price Index, which is far more reasonable than in London where a property will set you back £523,376 on average. 

Manchester is predicted by JLL to be the second strongest city for house price growth until 2028, beaten only by Birmingham. It is anticipated that Manchester will see some of the most impressive sales price growth of any UK city until 2028, with JLL estimating that prices will increase by 19.3%. This is particularly impressive considering that the same report from JLL predicted that national property price growth would sit at 17.6%, putting Manchester ahead of national growth predictions. 

Two boroughs of Greater Manchester to keep a close eye on if you are looking to invest in property are Salford and Oldham. Salford is currently undergoing extensive regeneration and has become a hub for media and the creative arts due to the large-scale projects at MediaCity. On the other hand, Oldham has seen significant annual house price growth, yet still offers affordable properties with an average selling price of £195,000 as of May 2024, an increase of 4.2% from the year prior. For those looking for a more premium investment, buy-to-let properties in Manchester City Core always perform exceptionally well, with apartment rental prices in the city core having increased by 12.3% in the past year alone according to the latest ONS data.

Predictions by JLL suggest that Manchester is set to one of the the location which will see the most dramatic rental value growth until 2027. Rental values are projected to see an average 4% boost every year until 2028, only being outpaced by Birmingham and Edinburgh at 4.1%.

Rental yields across the city are already exceptionally high, with Fallowfield’s M14 postcode generating yields of up to 10.1%. Similarly, properties in Clayton, Gorton and Salford are all generating yields of over 6.5% according to PropertyData. We anticipate that these areas of the city will become even more desirable for investors in 2025 and beyond. These price rises will be exacerbated by huge supply issues, with the government stating that the UK will need 300,000 more properties each year than our current annual delivery.

Manchester has experienced significant population growth since the start of the millennium. In fact, the number of inhabitants has soared from 422,000 to 600,000, and is anticipated to grow by a further 30,000 in the next six years. 100,000 people are due to live in the city centre alone by 2026, which makes city centre property a particularly sensible investment as this area is set to become increasingly in-demand with searching tenants and buyers.

Demand will also be impacted by the growing job market in the area, with 65,000 new jobs due to emerge in Manchester over the next few years as a result of its redevelopment efforts. This will increase employment in the city centre to 315,000 by 2040. This is a particularly impressive feat when you compare the city to other regions, as Manchester’s job growth is projected to double that of the north as a whole. 

But will the city be able to provide housing for this growing population? It doesn’t seem likely – according to the Deloitte’s Crane Survey, 2,402 homes were delivered to the market over the last year in the city. This figure is in line with the number of homes delivered in 2022, although albeit under half the peak number in 2021 where 5,549 homes where delivered. Although there are 11,765 properties under construction, some nearing completion, it seems unlikely that these will be able to satiate the spectacularly high demand for property across Manchester. 

Recent predictions for economic growth across the UK suggests that Manchester will be the second fastest growing economy across the entire country. In fact, Manchester’s economy is expected to see annual average growth of 2.2% between 2024 and 2027, comfortably outpacing the national growth rate (2.1%). The only other major town or city to see faster growth will be Reading who are set to see 2.5% annual growth. This will be a result of increased investment, ample redevelopment, sustainability efforts and job opportunities across the city core and Greater Manchester metropolitan area. We anticipate that businesses that have not already set up shop in this northern powerhouse will soon set their sights on doing so considering these impressive projections.

Even the Greater Manchester Index is improving. The Index, which measures the health of the region’s businesses, now sits at 30.6 – a significant improvement from the first quarter of 2024 where it sat at 3% . Manchester is showing no signs of slowing down, with investment continuing to flood into the city at an impressive rate and businesses continuing to put their faith in this truly impressive city. It’s no surprise that 80 of the FTSE 100 companies continue to have a presence in the city.

Manchester is no stranger to regeneration, with the city constantly undergoing ambitious redevelopment that continuously drives growth. There are an abundance of projects driving growth across the city, but there are four that stand out for the projected impact they are likely to have once completed…

NOMA

NOMA, an abbreviation of North and Manchester, is the single largest redevelopment scheme in the north west. This 20 acre area in the centre of the city is due to create up to 6,000 jobs and will add £380 million per year to the economy. This will transcend commercial and residential spaces, but will span community and green spaces. Although much of the project has already been completed over the past decade, there is still work to be done to create this thriving new neighbourhood by 2029. 

Spinningfields

The Spinningfields regeneration has been ongoing for two decades now, and has contributed significantly to Manchester’s business credentials and economy. The appeal of the region is two-fold – it has gained a reputation as the Canary Wharf of the North, but studies by Premier Inn show that Spinningfields is also regarded as the most family friendly part of Manchester. The area has created 10,000 new jobs and has already contributed £1 billion to the city’s economy, and shows no signs of stopping as redevelopment continues. 

MediaCityUK

In 2016, MediaCityUK announced that it would be investing £1 billion over the next few years. This ambitious project will contribute significantly to the commercial and residential landscape, offering 2,000 new apartments and 540,000 square feet of office space, not to mention the retail and leisure capacity that will be made available. Although an abundance of jobs in construction, retail and from new business investment have been created by MediaCity, the most impressive feat is the 10,000 additional jobs that have been made in the digital sector following the BBC’s move to MediaCity.

Over the last decade, Manchester property prices have seen a consistent increase thanks to new development, new amenities and fast rising demand. Below you can see how property prices in Birmingham have changed since 2013.

Year	Avg. Price	Annual % Increase
2014	£125,362	5.66%
2015	£136,855	9.16%
2016	£149,533	9.26%
2017	£158,994	6.32%
2018	£173,414	9.06%
2019	£179,304	3.39%
2020	£174,074	-2.91%
2021	£219,442	26.06%
2022	£241,041	9.84%
2023	£230,660	-4.30%
2024	£234,867	1.82%