Member Article

New Homes for Manchester

May 2014 brought forth the news that the UK’s housing supply is greatly outweighed by demand on the market. Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, commented that there is great need for a push in the building of new housing, and with the minimum quota at 200,000 per year, developers in the UK are under pressure to boost the number of new builds in the country.

Plans to build more housing in Manchester has been fresh in the news recently, with the announcement that the overseas owners of Manchester City football club, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), are planning to develop 6,000 houses in the city over the next ten years. The scheme has been dubbed ‘Manchester Life’ and is said to be worth £1 billion, hoping to create thousands of homes, most of which will be rental properties.¹ The first phase will see 830 houses built around Ancoats and New Islington, with work set to start next year.²

Sir Richard Leese of Manchester City Council “predicted there would be a demand from young professionals moving to Manchester. With 2.5 million in the Greater Manchester area, it is widely regarded as England’s ‘second city’, after London.” ³ Shifting attention to the expansion and development up in the North is a clear sign to residential investors, and also to developers, that it is a wise move to consider properties outside of London.

Developments are also rapidly occurring in Salford – just a stone’s throw away from Manchester city centre. Planning applications have already been submitted to build new residential housing and apartments, located on various brownfield sites across the region, with the aim of regenerating the land to make it an attractive area for professionals and students. The end goal is to encourage investment and economic growth in the Manchester area.

What is certain is that residential activity is back in Manchester; cranes are returning to the city as developers hope to see further investment in the Manchester City Region whilst also helping to secure economic recovery across the North.

Sources

1 & 3 – OPP Connect, 2 – The Business Desk, Image from Flickr.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by ERE Property .