WAQAR KHAN, Lendinvest's BDM for the North West, shares his thoughts on last month's government announcement.

At the start of this year, I wrote about the opportunities for property investors in a regenerating North West, citing recent government announcements around the ‘levelling up’ agenda as cause for confidence in the region. 

A couple of weeks after the government cancelled the Manchester leg of HS2 however, how relevant does this remain, and what should property investors looking to the North West do in light of this sudden change in government policy? 

Private vs Public Investment

In short: property investors should keep looking to the North West. 

Just because a level of public investment has stopped doesn’t undermine the huge amounts of private investment in the area. 

City hubs like Manchester and Liverpool continue to draw more businesses and jobs to the area, and expanding transport links (Metro Link, Bus services) continue to create investment for regeneration in areas like Stockport and Warrington. 

We’re in the business of homes; be it for renters or homeowners, and while the removal of a national connectivity project like HS2 is a blow; the local benefits to people living and investing there are still very real. 

Lower prices = greater affordability, higher yields

One trend we haven’t seen stop since the 2020 lockdowns is how the increase in remote working has enabled individuals to look further afield for their work, or move out of the higher-cost southern cities and take their salaries elsewhere. 

For homeowners, this has seen a lot more attention brought to the North West, particularly in the last 12 months as lower prices have made affordability more realistic for would be homeowners and movers. 

The average property price across the northwest is more than £70k lower than the whole of the UK, backing up the opportunity here for homeowners and investors. 

For Buy-to-Let landlords, this means the north has remained a place to generate higher yields because of the demand for high quality housing and relatively smaller initial investment. 

Finally, much like the rest of the country, the paucity of affordable housing makes the region ripe for bridging investment. Whether it be planning plays, heavy refurbishment of older stock, or purchasing land to develop, everywhere in the country needs it, whether there’s a high speed rail connection or not. 

Not losing ambition

Homeowners, landlords and property investors have had opportunities in the North West for years, and the cancelling of the Manchester leg of HS2 should do little to put them off, they just need to retain the ambition to see the benefits.