Overview
At the start of May 2018, there are more apartments, more hotel beds and more office space under construction in Manchester city centre than ever before. Central Salford is also breaking records for apartments under construction, currently standing at 5,696 (compared to 6,941 in Manchester city centre). Meanwhile, there are 2,235 apartments underway in Salford Quays, which has been flatlining since last summer.
But although the City Centre and central Salford are in hot competition over apartments underway, the City Centre dominates supply of offices and hotel beds - with over 1.3 million sqft of office space, and 1,106 hotel beds under construction in Manchester city centre compared to just 13,000 sqft of office space and 0 hotel beds under construction in central Salford.
In general, there are more projects under construction across the study area, (which includes central Manchester, central Salford, Salford Quays, Hulme and parts of Trafford), than ever before. However, the number of new projects coming forward has continued to fall - indicating that Manchester's construction.
boom may be slowing down.
Residential
It has been the fourth consecutive quarter of rapid growth in number of apartments under construction in the City Zone, Manchester's city centre. The number has almost doubled from 3,535 in May 2017 to 6,941 today. In the last three months alone, that number has jumped by 955 from the last development update in February. Despite growth slowing down in Central Salford there are still 350+ more apartments under construction there than there were in February.Several major residential schemes have contributed to this staggering growth. In the City Zone, Affinity Living started construction on 677 apartments at Circle Square, while Manchester Life started on site at Vesta Street in New Islington, which will deliver 171 apartments. Meanwhile in Salford, work started on 375 apartments at Gore Street, designed by OMI.
In Hulme, there are now 854 homes under construction, which has increased by 273 since February 2018 due to construction starting at Salboy's Burlington Square scheme. Meanwhile in south Manchester, Galliford Try have started construction on 105 apartments at their scheme The Clockworks, which is on Princess Road in Moss Side.
The residential pipeline across Manchester also remains healthy, and there are now 20,279 homes with a planning application but not yet under construction - 832 more than in February 2018. This takes the total pipeline to over 36,300 homes, over 3,300 more than in February. The star performer has been Central Salford, which now has a pipeline of nearly 11,000 apartments either under construction or submitted for planning approval - up from 9,600 in February 2018. There has been a number of new major residential planning applications submitted in Central Salford over the past three months, including 296 apartments at Phase 2 of Outwood Wharf which includes a 23-storey tower, 156 apartments at phase 2 of Urban Splash's HoUSe development at Springfield Street, while nearby Salix Homes - Salford's social housing provider - have submitted a planning application for 108 social-rented apartments at Canon Green, off Blackfriars Street. Countryside Living have also submitted a planning application for the final piece in the regeneration of Broughton, with 299 apartments in six blocks ranging from three to five storeys proposed there.
There has also been an upswing in residential planning applications in North Trafford, where X1 Developments have submitted a planning application for phase two of X1 Manchester Waters, which includes three staggered blocks ranging from 14 to 18 storeys, containing 526 apartments. This complements phase one of the same scheme, which is now at groundworks stage and will eventually be home to 216 apartments in two similarly staggered blocks of nine and 11 storeys. These two key schemes indicate that the regeneration of Pomona Island might be finally starting to gain traction.
You can download all the data used in the Development Update report by clicking here.
After a lull over the past year or so it now looks as though Salford Quays' residential pipeline might be kicking back into action, with a planning application submitted by Forshaw for a 34-storey tower near Clipper's Quay. Designed by Simpson-Haugh architects, Vista will contain 216 apartments and will be Salford Quays' tallest building at 107 metres.
But despite very strong supply, house prices across the city have accelerated in growth since February. Central Salford is, again, the star performer - with growth of 7.71%, or £12,963, in the last 12 months. Growth in North Trafford has also been strong, and that area has witnessed the highest price growth in the study area. The cheapest place to buy property in inner Manchester remains Salford Quays, where average prices sit at just over £163,000 but have increased by £11,400 in the last 12 months.
Commercial
As with the February update, commercial pipeline activity remains confined to the City Zone - Manchester's key central business district. Amount of office space under construction here is now higher than ever before, with over 1.3 million sqft of space under construction. Worthington Group's key commercial scheme at 125 Deansgate is now rising out of the ground, while Barings Real Estate started construction on their 178,000 sqft scheme at Landmark, near St Peter's Square, last autumn. Bruntwood are also well underway at Circle Square, where they're delivering 390,000 sqft of space - Manchester's largest under construction commercial scheme. Allied London have also submitted a planning application recently for the redevelopment of Astley & Byrom House, on Quay Street. Rebranding the building 'ABC', They propose to add 8,202 sqft to the existing building by adding an additional storey to the roof, together with refurbishing the existing offices, adding new events spaces, opening several new retail units on the ground floor - and potentially opening a cinema at the site.However, outside of Manchester city centre, the picture remains more subdued. Bupa are finishing off their new 145,000 sqft headquarters at Salford Quays, while the tiny redevelopment of Riverside House in central Salford, which will deliver just over 13,000 sqft of space, is currently Central Salford's only office scheme under construction.This is changing, however. English Cities Fund are preparing to start construction on their 262,672 sqft scheme at Two New Bailey, while HMRC have announced that they'll be taking 157,000 sqft at nearby Three New Bailey, which is currently having a planning application prepared with hopes to start construction next year.
In total, there is now 10.7 million sqft of office space proposed for Manchester - with 4.7 million sqft holding a planning application or under construction. For a full breakdown of all office schemes across Manchester, with or without a planning application, click here.
Hotels
The hotels pipeline is also dominated by the City Zone, and hotel developments in Hulme and North Trafford have completed in recent months. In total, there are 6,184 hotel beds proposed across Manchester, with 5,195 of these located in the City Zone - Manchester's city centre. All 1,106 hotel beds under construction across the city are located here.
There are 147 hotel beds with planning approval at City Suites 2, in central Salford - and 255 hotel beds proposed to be spread across two new hotels in North Manchester - 135 at the Irish World Heritage Centre and a further 120 at Holiday Inn Express Central Park.
To finish...
With more apartments, more office space and more hotel beds currently under construction in Manchester city centre than ever before, it is certain that Manchester is currently riding the peak of its property boom, which has been years in the making.
However, the number of new projects announced has yet again been subdued in the three months to the beginning of May, with just 26 new projects coming forward compared with this time last year, which is also the two-year average. In addition the number of projects stepping forward has also slowed down to just 52 this quarter, compared with 91 in May 2017 and a two-year average of 72. Of this 52, 17 projects have started construction since February, and 11 projects have gained planning approval.
See the Manchester Development Map
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