"In contrast to Birmingham, Manchester has gone from strength in recent years. It’s fair to say that it’s outperformed even London when it comes to current house price performance"
- Jason Harris-Cohen - Open Property Group
Quick sale specialists, Open Property Group, has analysed the latest Gov house price figures looking at house price performance over the last year across 10 major cities, finding that in terms of house price performance, the city of Manchester is streets ahead of the nation’s other major cities over the last year.
The research shows that across England, the average house price has fallen by -1.5% on an annual basis, as market activity has been dampened by higher mortgage rates coupled with the ongoing high cost of living.
This downward trend has been mirrored across no less than seven of the 10 major cities analysed by Open Property Group, with London seeing the largest decline at -3.9%, while Bradford (-3.8%) and Birmingham (-2.3%) have also seen some of the largest property price declines.
But not all major cities have followed this trend with both Leeds (+0.6%) and Newcastle (+2.1%) posting marginal increases on an annual basis. But it’s the city of Manchester that has been the by far the best-performing city, with the average house price climbing by 5.8% year on year.
An impressive performance for a city that, with a population of 568,996 people, is home to a far smaller property market compared to the nation’s first and second cities of London (8.9m people) and Birmingham (1.2m people).
However, the city of Manchester hasn’t remained immune to current market conditions.
The latest transaction figures show that Manchester home sellers keen to cash in on this strong level of house price appreciation may struggle to secure a buyer in the current market.
Just 295 homes sold across the city in 2023, with just Newcastle and Leicester seeing a lower level of market activity. This marked a 38.2% drop in sales vs the previous year, the largest annual reduction in buyer activity seen across all major cities analysed by Open Property Group.
CEO of Open Property Group, Jason Harris-Cohen, commented: “In contrast to Birmingham, Manchester has gone from strength in recent years and while it may be looking to cement its place as the nation’s ‘second city’, it’s fair to say that it’s outperformed even London when it comes to current house price performance.
"This is great news for Manchester homeowners but that’s not to say that the current market isn’t without its challenges.
"While market conditions are improving, the higher cost of borrowing remains a considerable obstacle for homebuyers and, as such, the number of homes sold across Manchester has reduced notably year on year.
"This means that home sellers may struggle to find a buyer in a proceedable position and this can considerably increase the time it will take to sell their home.
"A protracted selling timeline is one of the biggest motivations we see when it comes to sellers opting for a quick sale platform. Having benefited from a strong level of house price appreciation, they simply want to secure their sale and move forward with their onward purchase. The ability to do so to a strict and swift timeline allows them to cash in and make their move.”
