Where to live in Manchester
Manchester was one of the provincial pioneers of ‘loft living’ when innovative property developers such as Urban Splash saw an opportunity to turn the city’s redundant mills and warehouses into the must-have living quarters of the 21st century.
The result has been a proliferation of developments, concentrated initially on the former dockland area of Salford Quays, and more recently in the historical industrial heart of Manchester, Castlefield. Central Manchester now has a resident population of around 20,000 (from virtually nil a decade ago) and the best apartments now regularly change hands for well in excess of £1,000,000. Even a run-of-the-mill city centre two-bed apartment in a new development won’t leave much change from £300,000.
Unsurprisingly, the developments keep on coming all over the middle of Manchester and increasingly beyond. So successful has the loft living concept been that ‘city centre’ style apartments are springing up in some of the leafier suburbs such as Didsbury and Altrincham, where two bed apartments in new developments start at £200,000 and run through to £300,000 in the smartest complexes.
The traditional advice to the professional classes in Manchester has long been to head south, to suburbs such as Didsbury, Altrincham and Hale or further out into the Cheshire plains to well-heeled towns such as Alderley Edge (where the Beckhams lived before David’s transfer to Real Madrid), Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Cheadle and Tatton.
But while, at £221,000 for a detached house and £122,000 for an apartment, Manchester house prices are on average almost 50% cheaper than London, in the most desirable areas, steep price rises in the past two years, coupled with price stagnation in the capital, have significantly narrowed the gap.
Prices in Didsbury for example, have risen to the point where bog standard 3 bed semis cost at least £280,000 and designer homes closer to half-a-million, while other nearby well-established areas such as the quieter, more family-orientated Gatley and Bowden are little cheaper.
Consequently, younger professionals are having to look elsewhere. One area which has seen exponential growth is Withington, identified by Barclays Bank as one of the country’s top five ‘hot spots’ for the growth in the number of affluent residents. Another is Chorlton, also in south Manchester, and even Burnage (the childhood home of Oasis). For the more-cash strapped, rows of Coronation Street style red-brick terraces abound in districts such as Fallowfield and Rusholme and for those who really want a walk on the wild side, the once notorious district of Hulme has been extensively redeveloped.
South Manchester does have a complete monopoly on desirable places to live. To the north, Prestwich and Whitefield are fast turning into desirable suburbs while those who want to try their hands at property speculation are advised to look at Bury, The Rossendale Valley and Bacup.
But the gentrification of some of Manchester’s less well-heeled districts depends on the expansion of the city’s tram system, the Metrolink, which has been shelved for the time being after the government withdrew the funding to build three new lines to Ashton-under-Lyne, Oldham and through south Manchester to the airport.
Back in the city centre, professional thirty-somethings looking for somewhere to remind them of their younger days now have the opportunity to buy a slice of the past. The Hacienda, once the spiritual home of Acid House and considered by many to be the world's greatest night club, now lives on in the form of the city's most prestigious residential landmark, according to the developers who are marketing the development under the tagline: “Now the party’s over, you can come home.”
The original building has been demolished, but historic real estate still doesn’t come cheap with penthouse apartments at the development ranging between £545,500 and £685,500. No wonder then, that some in Manchester wonder whether the city centre property market may be headed for a fall...
Central Manchester (M1)
| Detached |
too few sales |
| Semi |
too few sales |
| Terrace |
too few sales |
| Flat |
£167, 290 |
Salford Quays (M50)
| Detached |
too few sales |
| Semi |
too few sales |
| Terrace |
too few sales |
| Flat |
£186,631 |
Burnage (M14)
| Detached |
£188,833 |
| Semi |
£160,839 |
| Terrace |
£132,956 |
| Flat |
£124,942 |
Didsbury (M20)
| Detached |
£340,661 |
| Semi |
£212, 514 |
| Terrace |
£190,508 |
| Flat |
£150,047 |
Hale (WA15)
| Detached |
£473,587 |
| Semi |
£227,842 |
| Terrace |
£215,070 |
| Flat |
£178,061 |
Prestwich (M25)
| Detached |
£229,250 |
| Semi |
£133,852 |
| Terrace |
£98,750 |
| Flat |
Too few sales |
Wilmslow (SK9)
| Detached |
£350,027 |
| Semi |
£221,957 |
| Terrace |
£165,810 |
| Flat |
£166,192 |
Source: Land Registry, Sales completed April-June 2004
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