Now is the Time to Buy to Let Property in Manchester
If you’re looking to invest in a buy to let property, many say you should start looking to the North! With yield opportunities that far exceed those of London’s high-priced market, Manchester and its surrounding neighborhoods are looking like your best chance to grab a slice of one of the nation’s major metropolitan areas.
As Manchester continues to see growth in both the engineering and tech industries, young professionals will continue to flood into the area, which means rent demand will keep on rising, as will returns on property investments, and with property prices remaining relatively low (for the time being) in many desirable neighborhoods throughout greater Manchester, now is looking like the perfect time for an Manchester property investment.
London has long been considered the nation’s most attractive city for prospective property buyers, but while steep increases in property values have been good for capital gains, they’ve also meant much lower returns on buy to let assets, with yields in some parts of the city as low as 2.88pc. Unless you’re looking to spend an outrageous amount of money and see far lower returns, London is simply not a smart option for investing in buy to let apartments. Manchester, on the other hand, rivals London where desirability is concerned and with rental yields of 7.98pc (about three-times higher than in the capital) there really is no comparison between the two major cities.
While cities like Southampton, Hull, Blackpool and a few others join Manchester at the top of the list as far as yield on buy to let property, none of them have the potential tenant draw that Manchester has. With a population approaching three million, a thriving city centre, a proliferation of trendy startups, and a football culture to rival that of any city in the world, Manchester has what it takes to continue attracting a large pool of eager young tenants. Plus, with Manchester’s massive university population, your buy to let will be perfect for the young professionals who choose to stick around and rent while they start their post-graduation careers. Not to mention, a substantial extension of the METROLINK system has drastically opened up transport between the city centre and the surrounding areas, which means outlying Manchester boroughs like Tameside are also ripe for buy to let investment as property prices in the eastern towns are likely to remain even lower for even longer, while the cost of rent continues its steadily rise.
The key is to move quickly. As with the case in London, property prices will eventually catch up with demand and the window for big returns could close before you know it, but if you strike while the iron is hot, a small Manchester property investment could pay of big in the years to come.
This content has been provided by One Investments. They are the sales and marketing arm of One Capital, a UK-based property developer and private equity firm specializing in the residential buy-to-let, hotel investment and student accommodation sectors in the UK, Dubai, America and more.
