Property
Property expert lists top six places to buy in Greater Manchester in 2021
From first-time buyers to buy-to-letters!
We spoke to the experts at Bentley Hurst to find out the best places to buy in Manchester this year.
I don’t have to tell you how great Manchester is – I don’t think you’d be following Proper Manchester if you didn’t love this place as much as we did – so I’ll skip straight to the good bit.
Business Development Manager, Jonathan Gold has listed the top six places to buy in Greater Manchester right now, whether you are looking for ‘an affordable home, stylish suburban living, or somewhere to raise a family’. Perfect!
First on the list is the city centre – it’s thriving, and it’s (normally) vibrant and full of life. There are also tonnes of new developments happening too. Jonathon gives a specific shout out to the Deansgate Square developments that include four residential towers in an iconic location.
There are so many options for the city centre, with more and more new venues adding to the already massive list of shops, bars, restaurants and museums, and city centre living is bound to stay popular for quite sometime.
Average prices for areas like Piccadilly and Deansgate come in at around £231,156.
Next on the list is the classic suburban dream of Chorlton and Didsbury. There’s a strong social scene, impressive properties and beautiful greenery, plus it’s super easy to get into the city centre.
There’s a strong independent culture with a real ‘neighbourhood feel’. Average house prices can range from £292,280 to £354,549 and are very much in-demand.
For first time buyers, Jonathon recommends Salford and Trafford where you’ll get a bit more bang for your buck while still maintaining pretty close proximity to the city centre.
In Salford house prices cost on average £200,715 with a capital growth of 30% over a five year period.
Jonathon also explains that it’s a good area for those looking for a buy-to-let property, with rental yields in Little Hulton on average of 6%.
Next up on the list, Prestwich. Known for it’s neighbouring Heaton Park, Prestwich makes the list as more and more people are looking to relocate to greener areas after almost a year of being locked up inside.
The up-and-coming suburb has had a big high street regeneration and now boasts an array of indie cafes and restaurants. You can be back in the city centre within 15 minutes and Jonathon promises a good mix of housing, plenty of greenery and good schools – making it the perfect place to start a family.
Unlike anywhere else Manchester has to offer, Ancoats and New Islington are next on the list.
Packed full of shops, arts and entertainment – and even a Michelin-starred restaurant – Ancoats and New Islington are a vibrant part of the city and perfect for anyone looking for something a little different.
Average house prices in Ancoats are around £213,371.
And finally, the Green Quarter. Situated close to the bustling Northern Quarter, the Green Quarter is perfect for those who like a little open space, and Victoria Station is just five minutes away.
A brand new 15-storey development, The Hallmark, is offering high-spec apartments with exclusive access to a landscaped roof top terrace!
There are of course plenty of other amazing areas to buy in Manchester that will offer an array of different things, like Stretford’s bustling and growing food scene, and Tameside’s suburbia.
For more advice from Jonathon and his colleague’s, head to Bentley Hurst Manchester.
Property
New apartment development with huge gardens and outdoor space opening this year
Make sure you check these out!
Manchester is getting a stunning new apartment development this autumn, set in beautiful landscaped gardens.
Acer will be the first residential development to open at Square Gardens, located in the First Street area.
Monthly rental for each apartment includes utility bills, super-fast wi-fi, use of all communal facilities and 24/7 security.
Square Gardens / Acer
You can grab a co-living apartment starting from £935 per month, studios from £1540 per month, and apartments from £2120 per month.
From one-bed apartments to studios and shared apartments, there will be 1,187 living spaces when it opens its doors.
It’ll be home to one of the city’s biggest communal outdoor spaces, with this ethos mirrored inside with several apartment spaces dedicated to co-living.
The community feel is also seen in the various lounge and social spaces, as well as co-working and meeting areas.
Square Gardens / Acer
Acer will boast a large, state-of-the-art gym on site, as well as media rooms, private kitchen and dining rooms to use, and regular resident and community events.
The development’s co-living apartments range from three to five bedrooms, all fully furnished with en-suite rooms, while there are also studio apartments and one-bed apartments – with separate bathrooms and open plan kitchen and living areas.
Head HERE to find out more.
Property
Plans for new tallest tower said to be ‘the landmark of Manchester’
Plans for the new tower will place it among Europe’s tallest high rises
Property developer Salboy is set to submit plans for a new tower which will be the tallest in the city among a cluster of skyscrapers.
If proposals are approved, the 241m (790ft) high Viadux 2 scheme is expected to take four years to build.
Salboy’s Managing Director, Simon Ismail, has said it is going to be ‘the landmark of Manchester’, the BBC reports.
Once completed, the new skyscraper will overtake Deansgate Square’s South Tower at 201m (695ft) high and dwarf the Beetham Tower at 169 m (554ft) high.
“We purposefully wanted to go for the tallest residential building in Europe… it’s a flagship building,” Mr Ismail told the BBC.
The Viadux 2 tower will hold around 800 apartments, providing homes for residents looking to live in Manchester, where housing is in great demand.
Mr Ismail said much of that demand for homes in the city was driven by ‘postgrads staying on, the largest student population in Europe, and a cost of living that’s half of that in London’.
Salboy says it has already provided about 4,000 homes in Manchester, and as long as there is ‘massive demand for homes, the firm will continue to build, Mr Ismail said.
The developer is also working on St Michael’s Tower with the former Manchester United footballer Gary Neville.
Manchester has seen a huge boom in skyscrapers over the last 10 years, with an ever evolving skyline.
Mr Ismail says he has ‘no idea’ how long the city’s skyscraper boom will continue, but that he never believed it when people had previously claimed ‘the bubble was going to burst’.
Adding: “When you look at what Manchester’s got behind it, it’s got too much backing it up, industrious people and a history of doing things right.”
Subject to approval, Salboy hopes to start work on the tower sometime this year.
Property developer Renaker has built a collection of skyscrapers at Great Jackson Street, along the southern border of the city centre.
The firm has also built towers at Colliers Yard in Salford and has started a scheme to build four skyscrapers at Trinity Islands, by the River Irwell.
Renaker has received more than £500m in loans from the Greater Manchester Housing Investment Fund – which was launched by George Osborne when he was chancellor of the exchequer in 2014.
The funding is loaned to developers by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and is then paid back. The value of the loans has now reached £942.5m with more than 10,500 new homes being supported from it so far.
Property
New build-to-rent community launching in Manchester neighbourhood named ‘best up-and-coming place to live’
Some stunning properties on offer
A new build-to-rent community is launching in Piccadilly East, the city centre neighbourhood named one of the ‘best up-and-coming places to live in the UK’ by the Sunday Times.
The Castings will be a new creative hub, owned by the people behind the five-star Lowry Hotel, and situated behind Piccadilly Station.
Made up of studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments, the development on the cusp of the Northern Quarter and Ancoats will feature a host of amenities.
The Castings
This includes a new yoga room and gym, a games room, private dining spaces and a work hub. There will also be three food and beverage outlets on the ground floor.
Piccadilly East was named in the Sunday Times’ list of best places to live in 2020, located within walking distance from the bars and restaurants of Ancoats and the Piccadilly Basin.
Cloudwater and Track brewery taprooms, Diecast, Ducie Street Warehouse and the soon-to-open Co-op Live are all also nearby.
The Castings
As the name suggests, the 350 design-led apartments are inspired by the casting of metals, incorporating industrial shapes, flowing forms and molten textures.
On the imminent launch, The Castings community manager Dave Evans said: “In just a couple of months, we’ll be welcoming residents into our new community. The focus for The Castings has been to create much more than just apartments; it’s a whole new lifestyle, with the best service and living experience that Manchester has to offer.
“Piccadilly East is a really exciting area to be part of which already contains some of the most exciting venues within the city, it’s the next generation of Manchester, and following on from the footsteps of Ancoats we hope to continue to create the next bustling creative hub in the city.”
The Castings
The prices for the new scheme start from £1150 per month for a studio apartment, £1250 for a 1-bed apartment, £1525 per month for a 2-bed and £2175 for a 3-bed apartment.
You can book in for viewings now, with move-in dates from June. Register interest here.
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