Member Article

Manchester business start-ups on the increase

The latest edition of the Manchester Monitor – a snapshot of Greater Manchester’s latest socio-economic indicators – shows a dramatic year on year rise in the number of business start-ups across the region.

Figures from the Bureau van Dijk FAME business database show that the number of new business incorporations (firms registering at Companies House) increased by 18.9% (or 355) in GM from July 2013 to July 2014, a larger increase than the average recorded across England.

The latest data available for Greater Manchester also shows:

· Hotel occupancy rates were recorded at 80.2% for Greater Manchester and 79.8% for Manchester city centre for July. The 80.0% average for the city centre has only been exceeded once before since records began in 2000.

· Manchester Airport also sees continued success. In June 2014, it handled nearly 2.3 million passengers, 121,400 (5.7%) higher than 12 months previously, in June 2013. Month-on-month passenger numbers increased too, from 2.0 million in May 2014, a rise of 10.4% (212,400).

· The average house in GM cost £107,100 in July 2014, an increase of 5.4% (£5,500) from this time last year. England & Wales saw a larger 7.2% (£1,700) rise with prices reaching £175,700.

· The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in July decreased a further 4.4% from June, a greater reduction than both the North West (3.9%) and British (2.5%) averages.

Including further data on hotel occupancy, airport passenger numbers, crime volumes and more, the March 2014 edition of the Manchester Monitor is produced by New Economy and is available to view here.

John Holden, acting director of research for New Economy, said: “As the Greater Manchester economy continues its recovery it’s reassuring to see that confidence is building back into local start-ups.

“Small businesses are vital contributors to employment growth, so this significant annual increase in regional start-ups instils real promise for the future of the local economy.”

“Additionally, continued rise in hotel occupancy rates, now approaching our all-time record, proves that people are seeing Manchester as a more attractive destination than ever before. With Soccerex soon getting underway and then the Christmas markets expected to bolster tourism for the third quarter, there’s reason to believe that this progress will continue.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .