The Mancunian Way: Psychic house-hunters

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I assume the block capitals used in this warning from an estate agency are intended to promote a sense of urgency. Inevitably however, they instil a sense of panic.

"DUE TO HIGH DEMAND SLOTS ARE BEING TAKEN ALMOST INSTANTLY - IF THERE ARE NO TIMES ONCE YOU HAVE CLICKED THIS LINK IT MEANS THAT VIEWINGS HAVE ALREADY BEEN TAKEN!"

Look - there’s an exclamation mark too. They must be serious.

As reporter Nicole Wootton-Cane discovered when she went to view some apartments in Manchester city centre, flat-hunting has become ‘an extreme sport’.

“Forget your actual job, refreshing Rightmove is now your occupation. You were hoping for a viewing outside of normal working hours? Think again. This is your life now,” she writes here.

Gone are the days of casually wandering around a few places on a lazy Saturday before going home to consider if you want to actually live in any of them. Now listings are taken down within minutes, tenants are being asked to manage viewings themselves and rent hikes see many forced to move on. In some cases, there’s no time to even view the place before you sign a contract and hand over a hefty deposit.

A recent study showed Mancunians were spending more of their £28,158 average salary on bills - including rent - than anywhere else in the country. And as Nicole discovered, living alone in town is ‘a near impossibility’ unless you earn well over the Manchester average wage.

She viewed three properties - of varying quality - and found out that ‘speed is the name of the game’ with many listings taken down