East Manchester is officially booming - with average house prices TREBLING since the year 2000.

If you had bought a house in M11, which covers Beswick, Clayton and Newton Heath, in 2000, you would have paid just £17,706 on average.

But so far this year, homes have been selling for nearly £100,000 - a staggering 480 per cent increase, compared to the national average of 139.2 per cent .

In M12, which covers Ardwick and Longsight, houses changed hands for just £21,427 back in 2000. Today, they sell for nearly £80,000 on average - a 273 per cent increase.

 

House prices have also more than trebled in M18, covering Gorton, and M19, covering Burnage and Levenshulme.

Prices in these areas have shot up so much partly because they were so cheap to begin with.

The average price paid for a property so far this year is £256,959 in England and Wales - up 139.2 per cent from £107,320 back in 2000.

None of these four postcodes comes close to this selling price - the average house has sold for £131,402 in M19 so far this year.

In leafier M20 and M21, which cover Chorlton and Didsbury, prices rose 117.5 per cent and 150.9 per cent respectively over the same period.

The average home in M20 has sold for £242,819 so far this year. The figure for M21 is £238,707.

This means that no M postcode has house prices that are more expensive than the national average.  

'We are just 15 minutes from the city centre and you can get a three-bedroom house for the price of a poky two-bed flat in the Northern Quarter'

Long-term residents of Beswick believe the boom is down to both a market upturn and the transformation of the area - including regeneration, investment by private developers and Manchester City Football Club, and the legacy of the Commonwealth Games.

Chris Bamber, 59, a freelance town planner who lives on the Lay estate, believes the property boom is about new houses being built in up-and-coming areas.

Chris, who lives with wife Dianne, 50, a biochemist, said: “Back in 2000 is when things started. Before then, the only housing in east Manchester was terraced housing, ex-council stock and a few fairly standard semis which were built in the 80s.

“But the value of those houses was depressed by the area and some of those have been demolished.”

 

Chris lives in a £200,000 modern house, having moved in in 2007. He thinks the value of his home will have decreased - but it's still houses like his which are boosting the area’s average.

He added: “What you have now is hundreds of modern two and three-bedroom houses. There are also a lot of good standard apartments which make up a significant slice of the housing market.”

He said this in turn has brought up the value of homes generally. He said the community was waiting to see the impact investment of neighbouring Manchester City Football Club will have on the area.

He added: “The are investing - but the stadium also causes congestion and traffic issues. Some people on our estate moved in because they are City fans and they want to be close to the stadium.”

He said football fans were not the only new arrivals. He added: “Now you have thousands of people who have chosen to live in Beswick.”

Despite localised problems including the much-publicised waste processing projects on Ashton Old Road and some anti-social behaviour issues - the area is becoming more desirable.

Chris added: It is a great place to live, we are just 15 minutes from the city centre and you can get a three-bedroom house for the price of a poky two bed flat in the Northern Quarter.”

But he warned: “It’s really the duty of the city council to make sure it doesn’t start to go downhill like other regeneration projects have in the past.”

 

Gary Loftus has lived in East Manchester for decades - Beswick for 10 - and he remembers when you could buy a house for £1,000 in the 1990s.

He said: “The great work has been going on since 2000. There has been a lot of investment - the Etihad has also helped, bringing investment and events to the area.

Gary, who is head of community building for charity Forever Manchester, said: “House prices plummeted in the 90s leaving many in negative equity.

“I lived in Openshaw and I remember house prices where I lived were around £5,500. I’m not surprised house prices have trebled - we’re seeing confidence in the housing market.

“It does depend on the type of property as well - there is a new development on Great Ancoat Street where apartments are going for £400,000."

 

Big developers have confidence in east Manchester's boom

A renewed faith in the potential of East Manchester has been proved by the influx of big developers keen to build houses.

The biggest of these is Lovell, who are behind two big ongoing projects set to bring around 1,500 homes to the area.

These include The Way on Ashton Old Road in Beswick, due to be completed by 2018, and featuring 500 homes of differing sizes which have already gone on sale to perspective owners.

A mixture of apartments and houses, prices range from £139,500 to £210,000 for a four-bedroom house.

Claire Noakes, regional sales manager for Lovell, said: “These are proving popular with a wide range of purchases - lots of professionals, doctors, a real mixed bag.

 

Claire said that the stabilisation of the market had combined with East Manchester’s own regneration.

She added: “The investment in east Manchester’s regeneration and the commitment from both the council and developers to invest in this particular area has created a new community and encouraged people to move from the city centre to live here.

“People who previously may have lived in city centre apartments are now looking to expand with a family and there is this inward migration.”

Lovell is also behind Farraday Green in Platting Green, Miles Platting. The first 85 of a thousand homes are now complete.

Claire added: “Our commitment in this area is purely based on the growth of Manchester. It’s on the doorstep of the city centre and the population is increasing in the city all the time.

“I think the investment from the owners of Manchester City is well known and well reported - and that possibly gives people a little more confidence in the area. However, we were developing well before they got here so the potential was already there.”

She added: “Manchester council has seen the importance of bringing good quality housing into the city that is accessible for everyone.”

 

How the East was won...

Keys to the east Manchester Regeneration... click on the links to see how they've been reported in the M.E.N.

Velodrome (1994) £9.5m

City of Manchester Stadium (Etihad) (1999 – 2002) £112m

Commonwealth Games (other premises):

National Squash Centre (£3.5m)

Regional athletics arena (same £3.5m as squash centre)

National Tennis Centre

National BMX Arena (2011) £24m

Clayton Vale Bike Trail (2013) £864,000

Metrolink expansion – TfGM lead

The East Manchester Academy (TEMA) (2009) £31.5m

Ashbury Meadow Primary School (2010) £3.5m

Beswick Library @ TEMA

West Gorton first phase – 171 new homes (2012 - first new council homes in 20 years) £22.9m )Demolition of 440 run-down properties + two high rise blocks; Refurb of 144 ex-council homes with Guiness Northern Council)

Next phase of West Gorton (planning recently approved) 250 new homes; The development of a new Community Park; The extension and improvement of Armitage Primary School

Space Project studio in Gorton (linked with the Sharp Project in Newton Heath)

Empty Homes project – 27 long term empties brought back into use in Openshaw in a first of its kind partnership with Rowlinson’s construction

Beswick project – 16 acre project £40m – ongoing (Connell Sixth Form College;  Beswick Leisure Centre - open by Christmas; Ryan Gander’s globally significant artwork; New retail; New link road)

New Beswick housing – 2002 (1,100 new homes) 2013 planning permission for 125 new homes

MCFC Academy – open in the coming months

 

Coming up . . .

Belle Vue Sports City - £10m (New national speedway stadium for Belle Vue Aces; National performance centre for basketball; Two new 3g pitches; Improvement to existing leisure facilities)

Abu Dhabi investment in up to 6,000 new homes in east Manchester from Ancoats and New Islington to the Etihad Stadium

Next phase of Beswick community hub

Ten Acres Lane – sport minded development TBC

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/