EVERYONE knows that the centre of Manchester is booming, but the big challenge
has been to the east of the city. With the best will in the world, and even
with innovative housing developments under way, this rundown postindustrial
wasteland was never going to be a natural destination for new buyers.
Enter the winning bid for Britain’s first supercasino, which changed the
fortunes of east Manchester overnight. “It’s an absolute result,” says
Stephen Hogg, partner in charge at King Sturge in Manchester. “There are
vast tracts of land in this area available for development. The more
infrastructure put in place, the better this will be. Now all we need is the
tram — and bingo! in more ways than one.” The supercasino will house up to
1,250 gaming machines on a 54,000 sq ft plot by the site of the 2002
Commonwealth Games in east Manchester. The site is also bang next door to
the new Sportcity Living development, and only a short drive in a stretch
limo from another scheme by the developer ISIS.
All this comes at a time when prices in the heart of Manchester are rising
beyond reach of first-time buyers: expect to pay at least £200,000 for an
apartment on any of the top 20 most popular streets in the city centre.
Canal Street, with an average price of £341,229, leads the way, then
Whitworth Street at £254,584, according to the property website mouseprice.com.
Hogg is delighted with Manchester’s prospects. “We’ve had our busiest January
ever,” he says. “In the second week we sold 33 flats. All the developments
within the core of the city are doing really well.” He mentions residential
skyscrapers such as the Great Northern Tower, the Beetham Tower and The
Edge, adjacent to the Lowry Hotel, as especially popular.
It’s a fair turnaround from the doldrums of December. So what has happened?
Hogg says: “There is a real confidence around. The Irish investors are back,
the Bank of New York has just announced it is expanding and taking on more
staff, and also I think people are sick of commuting in. I wouldn’t be
surprised to see the first scheme with values of £400 per sq ft this year.”
It is probably a little early to talk of shortage of supply, but there is
little new stock set for completion right in the middle of the city centre
this year, and not much space to build: one notable exception is
Stonehurst’s 169 apartments at the Lighthouse, tucked into a tiny gap in the
Northern Quarter, just behind the new Arndale market, priced from £125,000
for a 500 sq ft studio to £750,000 for a penthouse of 1,400 sq ft.
Only a few months ago the State of the Cities report into the northern
residential market undertaken by Knight Frank was cautious: “Within
[Manchester] city centre, average prices peaked in 2003 at over £300 a sq ft
and have fallen by a little over 5 per cent since then. Currently average
values are between £275 and £285 a sq ft, with prime values maintained at
over £300 a sq ft. With a high supply of stock, the market has shifted in
favour of the purchaser and incentives are increasingly being used.” The
Manchester music entrepreneur Tony Wilson believes that the Labour Party
conference in the city last autumn put Manchester firmly on the map as
Britain’s second city.
In the latest edition of Regeneration and Renewal magazine, Wilson
tells of a conference conversation with Phil Woolas, the Local Government
Minister and MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth: “He was in a taxi with a
senior government official and she said: ‘Oh my God, they’ve got a Harvey
Nicks’!” According to Wilson, Woolas scowled at his Londoner companion and
shot back: “Who exactly are ‘they’?”
The big challenge in Manchester now lies in conquering the very bottom and the
very top of the market. For developers such as ISIS, putting more than 500
homes on a three-acre site beside the Ashton Canal in east Manchester, and
Countryside Properties, which is building 130 one and two-bedroom apartments
and 73 two, three and four-bedroom houses at Sportcity Living, between the
Ashton Canal and Manchester City’s ground in east Manchester, the task now
is to “sell” the outlying areas of the city centre.
Tom Russell, chief executive of the regeneration company New East Manchester,
is aware of the need for new infrastructure. “In the not too distant future
there will be quick and convenient access to the city centre with Metrolink
literally on the doorstep,” he says hopefully. Prices at Sportcity Living
start at £179,950 for 850 sq ft, three-bedroom, canalside houses; at ISIS
prices go from £105,000 for a 600 sq ft, one-bedroom apartment and £160,000
for two bedrooms up to 900 sq ft. Three and four-bed-room apartments will be
also available.
At the other end of the scale, agents say that buyers with at least £700,000
to spend want the very best spec. Hogg expects the standard of interior
finish and exterior polish set by Pan Peninsula, the 50-storey twin-tower
Ballymore development at Canary Wharf in London. “There is no second best in
Manchester now,” he points out.
A 24-hour concierge is a must-have, especially for purchasers in their fifties
and sixties who want security. This will cater for the growing numbers of
North West empty-nesters who sell the family home then buy a “lockup and
leave” in the city centre and a property abroad.
It is clear that the market in central Manchester is buoyant. So the day might
finally have come for one lonely apartment. It’s on top of Tony Wilson’s old
Hacienda nightclub, where the “Madchester” music scene kicked off in the
late 1980s. It’s called “1001” and is a 1,313 sq ft (plus 500 sq ft of
outside space) two-bedroom penthouse, with floor-to-ceiling windows, roof
garden and balcony, mood lighting and surround sound in every room from a
hidden 300 CD auto-changer and concealed speakers. It may be cool, but it
has been for sale for two years. At £599,950 (reduced this week from
£685,000), it’s now looking more bargain basement than reach-for-the-sky.
And at less than three miles from the supercasino, it could just have got a
lucky break.
Lighthouse, King Sturge, 0161-238 7400, www.lighthousemanchester.co.uk
Sportcity Living, 0845 4021519, www.sportcity-living.com
or nw@cpplc.com
ISIS, 08701 622522, www.isis.gb.com
1001 Penthouse, Hacienda, 0161-237 9010, www.crosbyhomes.co.uk
