If you’ve ever been to Manchester, it’s likely you’ll know exactly why many refer to it as Britain’s second city. Vibrant, exciting, buzzing; these are all words that could describe a city that often feels as though it’s going through exponential growth.
Manchester is seeing not only an increase in its population at a rapid rate (the city's population is projected to reach 532,200 by 2021, an increase of 5.8% from 2011), but the age and wealth of its population is dropping and growing respectively.
The average age in Manchester, according to latest figures, is just 29. The jobs that the city is creating are also mainly in high-income industries. As a whole, this has meant that not only is Manchester’s population getting younger, but it's getting richer. For a city hoping to continue its current economic boom, that’s extremely good news.
The one thing also known about wealthy young professionals in Manchester is that they like the freedom of private rentals, and that city centre living is a key priority for them.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the best places to live in Manchester, taking into consideration facilities, amenities, night life, cost of living and future potential for economic growth.
Deansgate
Deansgate is home to some of Manchester’s most iconic bars and buildings, and is a hub of activity at the moment with buildings going up seemingly by the day. In slight contrast to some of the trendier and up-and-coming areas of the city, Deansgate tends to attract the more established and grander developers as well as shops, bars and restaurants.
A stretch of the city known for its glamour, it’s home to some of the most famous and eye-catching buildings as well as the well loved Deansgate locks. Offering those who visit or call it home the chance to dress up and enjoy the finer parts of the city, it also hosts the Barton Arcade which has swanky barbers, boutique stores and beautiful coffee shops.
With Deansgate offering residents one of the most exclusive postcodes in terms of Manchester neighbourhoods, it was always a place that was going to be on our radar. We’re always on the lookout for unique and lucrative opportunities across Manchester
With Deansgate offering all of this and more, we’re proud of our exclusive Axis Tower development, named to highlight its unique and central location at the AXIS point to the city’s major transport links and Central Business District. It offers 29 stories of chic city centre living, with breathtaking views and 5* hotel-like facilities.
Ancoats
File this one firmly under “up-and-coming”; Ancoats is currently considered one of the coolest areas of the city due to its enormous potential and rapid redevelopment.
Sitting just north east of the city centre, not too far from Manchester Piccadilly train station, Ancoats was actually named the 13th coolest neighbourhood in the world in Time Out’s list of hotspots.
Whilst compiling the list, Time Out said: “Ancoats has emerged from the ashes of its industrial past to become the hangout of choice for Manchester's many, many cool kids”, and they’re not wrong, with the San Francisco Chronicle added it to their list of great places for budding tourists.
Just slightly off from Ancoats is the more established and captivating Mayfield area, which is where we’re offering our stunning Oxygen development, with estimated yields of 6%. Oxygen also offers excellent proximity to major transport links and is a mere stroll from the city centre.
In terms of investments, there probably aren’t many cooler places to put your money.
Castlefield
Dripping with music heritage and cool vibes, Castlefield is the place where you’ll find the bulk of the city’s trendy new developments, as well as the excellent Castlefield bowl, which has played host to some of Manchester’s best music gigs.
More recently it was host to some of the best acts of the world renowned Manchester International Festival, with world famous acts putting on unforgettable performances.
Castlefield is host to a number of Manchester’s trendiest rooftop bars, outside terraces and beer gardens, with developers quickly cottoning on to the fact that many of the best eateries were starting to move into to the area.
Now an extremely popular area for young professionals due to its proximity to excellent amenities, there are also some excellent investment opportunities.
Northern Quarter
With its winding streets, hidden venues, exclusive coffee shops and underground music scene, the Northern Quarter has given birth to seemingly thousands of guides promising to show you around. There’s always the feeling, however, that no matter how many times you tread the pavements around here there will always be somewhere new to find.
Located almost directly outside of Manchester Piccadilly, the Northern Quarter is the epitome of cool city centre living for the new, young and wealthy inhabitants who enjoy strolling around hipster coffee shops, vintage clothing stores, 1920s bars and vegan restaurants.
A surprisingly large area of the city when walking its streets, the Northern Quarter has a low amount of property that can be re-developed, meaning that the properties that do become available in the area really are worth their weight in gold (figuratively of course).
The future
This isn’t, of course, an exhaustive list of Manchester neighbourhoods by any stretch but probably a good starting point for anybody wanting to get a good feel for the area.
Manchester’s growing, and outside of the city centre there’s been a huge wave of investment in the outer boroughs with Metrolink expansions out into Oldham, Bury, and plans to expand to Stockport.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has announced a raft of exciting plans to continue the city’s rapid expansion. Further investment into infrastructure, road and rail, facilities and amenities are combined with plans to boost business and investment, making Manchester one of the biggest investment prospects in Europe.
The city’s impressive industrial history has maintained its place in Manchester’s future. Hard work and tenacity, combined with a focus on the potential of the area has seen it become the UK’s number one investment hot spot.