Manchester. The city of endless possibilities. A thriving place for all to enjoy, from students to solicitors, and professionals to pensioners. We have the famous bee, the music, the football, and most famously the rain, which isn’t all that bad when you can enjoy the great indoors of a city centre apartment. And with so many price offerings, Manchester boasts affordability for renters, so you really can save for a rainy day.
There’s often a stigma attached to the idea of renting, with thoughts that those who pay over the odds for rent are just simply delaying the process of joining the property ladder. Well it’s not always the case, and Manchester has many options and opportunities to be explored by city centre ‘homies’.
Whether it’s true Mancunians, students or tourists, most people seem to say the same thing about the city, that it’s characteristic areas and hotspots are so accessible and easy to get to from one to the other. From cocktails in Spinningfields to art galleries in the Northern Quarter, the journey is a matter of minutes.
It only takes a quick glance from 20 Stories to see how Manchester is growing. Apartment complexes here, office blocks there, the city is full of cranes, and fuelling that development and activity is the demand for city centre living. In the year 2000, 10,000 people lived in the centre, fast forward to today and the number has hit 70,000. So it’s certainly popular, but how do we know if it’s affordable?
One of the first steps to determining affordability is location. An apartment in the prestigious area of Spinningfields, popular with celebrities and footballers, will set you back anywhere between £900 to £2,000 p/m. Broaden your horizon to the slight edge of the city centre, perhaps along the Trinity Way, a new build can cost tenants between £1,100 and £1,700, and with only a 10 minute walk to town, this is becoming the choice for many.
Professionals who enjoy the convenient walk to work take to city centre living, as do many of the 105,000 students who can roll in to lectures in just 10 minutes. James, a Marketing Student we recently interviewed said “Living in the M3, a short walk to Menagerie and Spinningfields, is the absolute highlight of my student life. I pay £425 per month for my double bedroom in a 3-bed, 10th floor apartment. It’s cheaper than first year halls, and with the support of my student loan and exemption from council tax, it makes living pretty cheap. It’s just the price of drinks that my wallet takes a beating with!”
What’s more, 50% of Manchester’s student population stay in the city, and with an average graduate salary of £25,000, renting in the city is a popular choice for the many.
Another way to review affordability is to look at what comes with renting a property. What’s the council tax band? How much is my electricity bill going to be? Well generally speaking, and of course all property types differ, apartments in the city centre don’t use too much energy, especially as the average two bed flat tends to be quite small. According to Zoopla, the approximate energy bill for a typical central property is £58 per month, so compare that to a house in the country, you’re living quite efficiently!
Other costs to bear in mind for those at the rent-ready are holding deposits you might need to put down to reserve your home. However, many new developments run incentives such as £0 deposit and even ‘first month rent free’ offers, so look out for those in order to save some extra pennies!
Many central homemakers choose to ditch the car too, as Manchester boasts a superb public transport offering. Tram to Sale in 20 minutes? No problem. Train to the airport in half an hour? Done.
You can benefit by bringing your hobbies in-house. Most Manchester’s latest builds have high spec gyms, cinemas, free WiFi and even bicycles included in the development. Fantastic facilities like these not only bring ultra-convenience to renters walking and transport wise, but also allow money saving as costs for services are reduced elsewhere!
The typical rental in Manchester is a two-bedroom apartment, occupied by either a couple or two sharers. Many couples often choose a new 1-bed, which are consistently in the building pipeline, meaning a share of bed and a split down the middle of the bills results in a healthy financial surplus post pay-day.
Manchester has so much to offer for those in all occupations and positions. Prices fluctuate between locations, sizes and ages of buildings, but there’s certainly the right property out there for someone.
