PROPERTY | SPECIAL
A CITY CLEARLY UNITED RUPERT SMITH OF COMPLETE RPI DISCUSSES THE UNIQUE PROPERTY OPPORTUNITIES IN THE NORTHERN ENGLISH CITY OF MANCHESTER.
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ike all investments I am of the view that diversity is key and with residential to do business and the list of new corporate HQs investment in the UK the same principles apply. Investing in a mixture and relocations lay testament to this. And with of both capital growth and yield-driven opportunity is always wise in new companies, come new people who all need my view, utilising the yield play to service debt on the lesser yielding is a somewhere to live! pragmatic approach. Location, location, location – that’s all we seem to hear! But when transport infrastructure and regeneration in conjunction with international airline connections to Hong Kong, the mix is truly unique. In this new era of austerity where corporations are Cathay Pacific Airways has now launched a four-times-weekly service to looking for increasing ways to trim the balance Manchester! sheet, Manchester stands out as a viable and Located in north-west England, Manchester is a regional transport and business much cheaper alternative to London. hub that is renowned for its architecture, culture, industrial heritage and sports On average, office rents cost just one third of clubs. Manchester International Airport is ranked third in the UK, after Heathrow the capital and according to KPMG, Manchester and Gatwick, in terms of passenger throughput and has high potential for further is rungs above London for business cost growth. competitiveness. It’s not just about the cold, hard The Manchester service is operated by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft featuring Cathay figures on a spreadsheet. Manchester is an easy Pacific’s acclaimed new cabin products, including the awarding-winning Business sell to employees who are able to realise more for Class, Premium Economy Class and the new Economy Class seats. Flights depart their money and enjoy a better work-life balance from Hong Kong to Manchester every Monday, with shorter and easier Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Departures from commutes – thanks to In this new era of austerity Manchester are also on these days. years of major investment Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Ivan Chu said: (£1.5bn) in public transport where corporations are "We have a deep commitment to the UK market infrastructure. Companies looking for increasing ways and currently operate five flights a day to London are asking themselves, if the to trim the balance sheet, Heathrow. Business ties between the UK and Hong BBC can do it, why can’t we? Kong are very strong and we have been seeing an Indeed, the relocation Manchester stands out as ever-increasing demand for air travel to and from the of the BBC to the east a viable and much cheaper Asia Pacific region for both business and leisure traffic. of the city in Salford has alternative to London. “By providing yet more flights to the UK, and the had a colossal impact on only non-stop direct service between Hong Kong Manchester’s house prices. and Manchester, Cathay Pacific will offer passengers “ The BBC have turned even more choice and flexibility and, at the same time, continue to boost Hong Didsbury and Chorlton into little London,” opined Kong’s standing as an international aviation hub.” one national broadsheet on Manchester’s most If you thought the UK investment property market was all about London, then popular residential areas. According to Land think again. Manchester is turning the tables. The northern city, famed for its music, Registry Data house prices specifically in Salford football and former industrial glory showed the strongest growth in house prices in trumped the rise in the national average by over 2013, according to a survey by Nationwide Building Society. three times last year. Residential values increased by 21% against the national average rise of 8.4% – The city’s population has grown by nearly 20% making London’s 13% recorded growth look, at best, modest. in the last decade, with 80,000 more estimated to The driving forces behind Manchester’s much vaunted return to prosperity lie call it home by 2027. Such an influx of professionals in the city’s innovative civic leadership who geared every policy and initiative to will only continue to gentrify the city’s real urban regeneration and growth – a strategy that has procured the city’s claim to be estate. Demand for properties therefore, is the largest UK office market outside of London. Put simply, Manchester is a place certainly strong.
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WHY MANCHESTER?
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THE MARKET From 1991-2001 Manchester’s regeneration took the city-centre population from a matter of hundreds to 17,000. Gone are the dark satanic mills, the derelict and decaying warehouses and in their place: characterful apartments, epicurean hangouts and popular nightclubs. The Northern Quarter is a good example of this urban regeneration, transformed from beggarly to bohemian. In a report published by UK online housing portal Right Move, national house prices were forecast to grow by 6-8% in 2014 with the city of Manchester singled out as a specific property hotspot. The fundamentals are definitely in place to support this assertion. Based on rental yields alone, Manchester ranks fourth in the UK for buyto-let property. This has attracted a number of pension funds to the city’s portfolio, in search of safe and secure performing real estate. Wider economic data backs up the confidence too – over the next five years a predicted growth of 2.9% in the city’s GDP and a 4.9% increase in jobs are both encouraging. As ever, it comes down to the basics of supply and demand and the Manchester market is currently feeling the effects of short supply. Following the 2008 financial crash many new developments and sites were halted and the market is now responding to that lull in its projected homes pipeline. Now, appetite for new builds is apparent. Royal Mills, the redevelopment of a former textile factory between New Islington and the Northern Quarter, was 50% reserved within two weeks of its launch date in summer 2013. According to Jones Lang Lasalle’s Residential Eye report, published in October 2013: “The new homes market has seen a particularly strong HKGOLFER.COM
revival this year. Developers have been busy finishing previously mothballed sites – pricing units to sell rather than yield maximum gain. They have also become active land buyers again, positioning themselves ready for the next phase of the housing market recovery.”
TRANSFORMATION The city’s transformation and emergence from recession has not gone unnoticed. In a 2014 article The Economist lauded what it called ‘The Manchester Model’, describing the city’s success as “an economic and political system which seems to work and is increasingly being copied.” Now the fastest growing economy outside of London, Manchester has a story to tell. With 7% growth figures predicted in the housing market for 2014, investors may want to write their own chapter on the city too.
YOUR PROPERTY, OUR PRIORITY Let Complete RPI overview your UK property free of charge and answer the following questions: - Is your property under-let? We increased our rental income for client's by 7% last year, did your agent? - Have you contracted with the most up to date tenancy agreement? Changes in legislation occur daily. - We only charge monthly fees, are you paying up front? We charge a monthly Letting & Management Fee and no up-front fees, does your agent do the same? - We offer free rental guarantee insurance, does your agent? - Is your property inspected every three months by an independent inventory clerk? If not it should be and we pay the cost. Does your agent? - Do you have 24 hr access to your very own bespoke online property platform which allows you to view all aspects of your property including management statements, invoices, interim inspection reports, values, gearing ratios, etc ... at Complete RPI this is standard. The answers to these questions and many more could both save you money and increase the return on your capital invested. Please call us on +852-9307-0337 or write to info@completerpi.com Why not visit us at www.completerpi.com ... “Your Property, Our Priority."
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