Manchester resi rents soar compared to regional rivals
Research by JLL found that the monthly price paid for new-build apartments in the city and neighbouring Salford has increased by 50% over the last three years, while Leeds remains the cheapest of the UK’s six largest regional markets.
In the first half of 2021, the average rent for one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in Manchester was £1,200.
This has risen to an average of £1,800 in the first six months of 2024 and equates to rise of between £100 and £200 every six months for the last 26 months.
Two-bed apartments are most in demand and have seen the highest growth over the last year, up almost 15%. Rents for one-bed and three-bed apartments are up by 9.7% and 12.9% over the last 12 months, according to JLL.
There are several schemes driving this growth. Two-bedroom apartments at Kampus start at £1,650 a month, while two-bed flats in South Tower at Deansgate Square are being offered up for as much as £2,800 a month.
Jonathan Wiedemann, head of North West and building consultancy North at JLL, said: “Manchester’s firmly cemented itself as a fantastic place to live, work and study. That’s borne out by our rental figures and the steady flows of capital, businesses and people heading into the city.
“There’s a quiet optimism among Manchester property professionals that an anticipated spate of interest rate reductions, brightening economic picture and stable political landscape will fuel future growth.”
While still a way behind the £2,500 average London rent, the rate of growth in Manchester outstripped the other five big regional cities: Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Bristol.
In Leeds, rents have risen almost 30% in the same three-year period from just shy of £1,050 to £1,350. The Yorkshire city has the cheapest rents of all the Big Six regional centres, boosting demand, according to JLL.
Leeds currently has 4,300 operational BTR units but this could rise to 11,700 if all of its pipeline schemes are delivered.
Birmingham has largest build-to-rent pipeline out of any of the Big Six. Currently, the city has 6,400 operational units, way behind Manchester’s 13,400. However, if all of the schemes in Birmingham’s pipeline come forward, it would become the largest BTR market outside of London with 18,600 units.
Since 2020, Birmingham has seen £1.7bn of BTR investment, more than any other city, including Manchester.
