As London continues to plateau with house price growth now at a nine-year low, the Northern Powerhouse city of Manchester is proving that there’s still time to invest in its growing housing market.
A new UK Cities House Price Index from Hometrack has revealed that Manchester is still the top major UK city in terms of house price growth, with a 7% average property price rise over the past 12 months. Homes in the city now costs an average £163,300, compared to London’s colossal £491,200 price tag, according to the data – but the gap is expected to continue to narrow.
London’s house prices have grown by just 0.4% over the same timeframe, while prime central London has seen its prices shrink by 4% over the year as the market stutters in the midst of Brexit uncertainty as well as general lack of confidence in the capital’s housing sector.
Aside from Manchester, some of the UK’s smaller towns and cities have also experienced a boom over the past year, with Newport in Wales topping the list with a 10.9% house price growth spurt over the past year. Peterborough, Milton Keynes, Coventry and Sunderland also made it into the top 10 list for house price growth.
The worst performing major cities were Aberdeen and Cambridge, which saw property prices drop by 5.7% and 0.9% respectively. Dundee, Aldershot, Oxford and Brighton also languished at the bottom of the property market pile.
Manchester is still full of opportunity
The good news for Manchester is that the growth is expected to continue as demand rises over the next few years, and property investors seeking opportunities should still be looking at the city as a promising choice for future returns.
Richard Donnell, the insight director at Hometrack, said: “We expect house prices to keep rising across regional cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh over the next two to three years.
“During this time house price growth in London will remain flat, with annual price rises of approximately 0-2%. As a result, the gap between house prices in cities outside of the south-east and house prices in London will continue to contract.”
He added: “The level of house price inflation seen in large regional cities during the last peak, between 2000 and 2003, gives a good indication of how much prices may rise this time around. If history is to repeat itself and these cities are to get back to where they were, then prices could increase by as much as 20-25%.”
