Manchester named UK's 'new property powerhouse' after house prices soar

Manchester has been awarded the title of the UK's new 'property powerhouse' after a recent surge in house prices. The latest analysis from Open Property Group has revealed that when it comes to house price growth, Manchester has far outperformed other major UK cities over the last year - including London.

According to the latest Government house price figures, property prices in the city are increasing much more than the national average. Rising house prices give a good indication of the state of the market, with growing demand often being one of the key factors that drives prices up.

The professional house buying company analysed the latest data by looking at house price performance over the last year across 10 major cities. The research shows that across England, the average house price has fallen by -1.5 percent on an annual basis, as market activity has been dampened by higher mortgage rates coupled with the ongoing cost of living crisis.

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This downward trend has been mirrored across seven of the 10 major cities analysed by Open Property Group, with London seeing the largest decline at -3.9 percent, while Bradford and Birmingham have also seen some of the property prices fall by more than 2 percent.

But not all major cities have followed this trend with both Leeds (+0.6%) and Newcastle (+2.1%) showing house price growth up to 2.1 percent. But Manchester has been the best performing city by far, with the average house price climbing by 5.8 percent year on year.

The experts say this is an 'impressive performance' for a city that, with a population of 568,996 people, is home to a far smaller property market compared to the