Glasgow is not only an academic and cultural hub in Scotland but also the economic powerhouse of the country. Explore the 8 reasons we’re investing in this buzzing metropolis below:
Over the past 30 years, Glasgow has reinvented itself into a thriving, metropolitan city continuing to transform its economy from heavy industry to a knowledge-based, technological hub.
The city was recently ranked second best UK Tech City in CBREs 2019 Tech Cities Report and had a 2019 GVA of £20 billion, totaling approximately 14% of all Scottish output. It is predicted to continue growing at 2.1% annually to 2029, a figure higher than the country’s annual growth rate.
Glasgow is the third most populous city in the United Kingdom. The inner metropolitan area is home to 626,410 people (as of June 2018), but the population of the Greater Glasgow Metropolitan Area stands at 1.7 million.
Glasgow is expected to continue growing at the same rate as the cities of New York, Los Angeles and Paris. A statement underpinned by a projected population increase of 175,000 people to over the next 15 years.
Glasgow’s total residential sales values in 2018/2019 were the largest in Scotland but house prices are still on average £100,000 cheaper than Edinburgh.
This may not last long however, as house prices in Glasgow are one of the fastest growing in the UK. This is largely attributed to the speed at which the city has gentrified. Even with the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and COVID-19, total forecasts for Glasgow are expected to remain the same over the next 5-year period at 15.4% price growth and 13.7% rental growth.
Glasgow is a leading city for the future.
It is the first city in Scotland to establish its own innovation districts to foster high growth industries.
Plans are currently underway across three regions of the city to develop the Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID) in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde, the Glasgow Riverside Innovation District (GRID) with Barclays as an anchor tenant and the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS).
Considered the more friendly and trendy sister of Edinburgh, Glasgow has a growing working population demographic. The rental market absorbs many students and young professionals who’ve made the vibrant city their home with its strong career prospects.
Glasgow is now home to 28% of all Scottish companies and provides a third of the country’s jobs. As a testament to the thriving Glasgow economy, the unemployment rate has fallen from its 11.9% high in 2012/2013 to 4.7% - a drop of 7.2% in 6 years. In addition to this, the employment rate has risen by 3% since 2016/2017, bringing Glasgow more in line with the Scotland average.
Considered to be a priority location, Glasgow will house a terminus station from the first phase of the much-anticipated HS2 program. The new high-speed rail station will be operational from as early as 2026 and provide easier access to cities in the Northern Powerhouse region as well as London. We're excited to announce that our newest development in Glasgow is just 11 minutes away from the Glasgow Central Station.
Glasgow’s educational offerings regularly top league tables and secure highly competitive funding grants. The student city has a host of accolades driving economic growth:
There are over 160,000 students enrolled at Glasgow's four universities, three higher education colleges and three 'super' colleges. Almost half (46%) of all Glaswegians in employment are educated to degree level, making the city's workforce one of the highest qualified in the UK.
Coupled with a buzzing social scene and promising career prospects, the city has proven a tough one to leave. It currently holds the title for the highest student retention rate in the UK outside of London, at 51%.
Manchester, through both times of political stability and uncertainty, has proven itself to be a property market capable of maintaining the interest of property investors globally.
With its impressive business credentials, booming young population, rich culture and sporting industries, as well as growing art and culinary scenes, the city is drawing in large numbers of residents. Property prices across the city region continue to rise and Manchester's economic growth is now on par with the top-performing European cities, making the city also a top contender for investment.
Outperforming London, Manchester has once again been named the most liveable city in the UK, an accolade the city has held every year since the Economist Intelligence Unit began its Liveability Survey in 2011. The report ranks 140 of the world’s largest cities on numbers factors, including infrastructure, culture, environment and education.
The survey highlights Manchester’s continued appeal as a place to live and work. The population continues to grow, especially among young professionals. Recent figures published by JLL revel that there was a 117% rise in people moving to Manchester’s city centre in July of this year compared to July 2018.
Since 2015, Manchester’s population has grown by almost 6% (from 539,600 to 572,000). The city has one of the UK's highest university retention rates, with 70% of graduates electing to remain in the city following the conclusion of their studies. Manchester's combination of a wide range of employment opportunities and an affordable cost of living, not to mention its enticing blend of urban amenities and great countryside break opportunities, attract a diverse mix of people. Highly educated and culturally varied, these new residents bring an exciting energy to the city and consistent housing demand.
While manufacturing is still a prominent industry in Manchester, the city has been working hard to move into knowledge-intensive industries. It is now recognised as a major hub for the digital economy, with over a fifth of the population now employed in the financial, professional and scientific sector and an expected 10,000 new offices jobs are expected to be created by 2021.
Greater Manchester's regional economy is estimated to be around GBP 85.3 billion. This makes its economy larger than that of Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Luxembourg among others when gross domestic product is measured. Further to this, the region's GDP per capita, that is its financial output per worker, is higher than that of Portugal, Poland and Hungary.
Manchester's attractiveness has remained unmatched for investment, keeping its title as the UK's number one destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) outside of London. The city had 37 FDI projects recorded across 2018, in comparison Birmingham had just 22.
While a recent increase in development has gone a long way in helping to bridge the gap between demand and supply, the need for housing and new developments is likely to continue into the future, partly as a result of the city's sustained population growth, with the city's population set to reach 644,100 by 2025.
Hometrack reports that the average price of a property in Manchester has risen 1.83% between May 2018 – May 2019. Lets agreed rose by 103% over the same period, as the city’s strong rental demand from the high number of young professionals living in the area and ensured Manchester remains a hotspot for property investors.
As more business move to the city, with major telecommunications brand TalkTalk the latest to relocate to Manchester, it is expected that more people will move to the city in pursuit of their careers and a strong work-life balance, which offers a great opportunity to savvy property investors looking for long term growth.
2018 was anything but a typical year for the United Kingdom. Two new housing ministers, two Bank of England base rate hikes, and the continuation of Brexit negotiations kept all of us on our toes but what impact has all of this had on the property market?
Despite what some headlines would have you think, the UK property market has proven itself remarkably resilient in the face of political unsteadiness.
The average house price across the country in 2018 was GBP226,906 – a 3.9% increase in 2017 figures and nearly 6.6% higher than at the time of the EU referendum. While these price rises are lower than in years prior to 2016, positive growth is still seen across the country. As regional cities such as Birmingham and Leeds are experiencing growth between 5% and 8% each year it is also noteworthy that Manchester registered growth at a higher rate in November 2018 than a year ago.
The number of first-time UK buyer transactions has also rocketed. In the year to July 2018, they stood at 364,800 – some 52% higher than five years ago and up 3% from 2017.
Pointing to the core reality of the property market, IP Global Distribution Director Jonathan Gordon notes, ‘people still need places to live. This is not something that people necessarily desire, this is something that people need’.
Our annual report on investor sentiment shows that UK property continues to be globally desired, as well. Across all markets polled the UK featured in the top three favored investment destinations and among UAE investors specifically there has been a 7% year-on-year increase in interest in property investment opportunities within the country. This supports ONS findings that the UK experienced a 4% rise in total property investment in Q4 2017, equivalent to approximately GBP84 billion.
As we look to the year ahead, IP Global feels confident in the proposition of UK property investment and believes that there will be strong opportunities for investors across the country.
How to spot a property investment hotspot:
Here’s why commuter London and the key regional cities of Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds continue to rise above expectations and lead the UK property market:
To discover your next UK investment opportunity, speak with us today.
Two years after the UK government invoked Article 50 and began Brexit negotiations, ‘uncertainty’ remains a keyword whenever UK real estate investment is discussed. The impact of the referendum’s outcome on investors and the market, however, appears overstated and opportunities remain abundant.
Following the 2016 vote, eyes fixated on London and predictions began to swirl as to who would leave the city in favor of new European headquarters. It can now be seen that those initial concerns regarding significant relocations to Paris and Frankfurt were overestimated. The financial sector currently employs over 320,000 individuals in London and 2.3 million total in the UK. The Bank of England estimates that 5,000 to 10,000 financial services jobs will be relocated to continental Europe by March 2019, accounting for a nominal portion of the current workforce.
Confidence in the UK market and London’s long-term position as a leading capital was shown in August 2017 when Deutsche Bank reaffirmed its commitment to the city by signing a 25-year lease on 500,000 sq ft of prime office space in the City of London. Goldman Sachs followed suit this August when they secured a leaseback of their London headquarters, which is still under construction, for an initial period of 25 years. ‘The development of Plumtree Court and our signing of a long-term lease demonstrates our continued commitment to London and our European operations more broadly,’ said Richard Gnodde, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, in a statement.
This summer also saw American tech giant Facebook sign a deal to acquire 611,000 sq ft of office space in London’s King’s Cross, establishing the UK as the company’s largest engineering hub outside of the US.
In the last two years, investment from Asia, and Hong Kong in particular, into UK real estate has accelerated at a pace few anticipated. Rather than turning their backs due to uncertainties, we have seen a surge of optimistic investors who view UK properties as stable and currently undervalued.
Chinese investment in London commercial property has more than tripled since Britain voted to leave the European Union, with Chinese investors spending GBP3.69 billion on London commercial property within the first six months of 2017, the highest amount on record and outpacing the GBP2.69 billion spent in the whole of 2016. Two key London skyscrapers, the Leadenhall Building (referred to as ‘The Cheesegrater’) and 20 Fenchurch Street (the ‘Walkie-Talkie’), were both sold since the referendum, with the ‘Walkie-Talkie’ selling for GBP1.28 billion - a record for an office building in Britain and 13% above its initial valuation.
Away from London, regional hubs up and down the country are experiencing tremendous growth and international investors continue to show interest. According to CBRE, the UK is the most popular place to buy property in Europe for Chinese investors with key cities of interest outside the capital being Manchester and Birmingham. In recent years buyers have been especially keen on flats in these cities due to their population growth and booming local economies.
Capitalising on a currently weaker sterling, international investors across both commercial and residential real estate projects are appreciating the value presently afforded within the UK and sales numbers indicate that their interest is not slowing.
State Street Corporation published the latest findings from its Brexometer Index in September 2018 which showed the number of institutional investors looking to increase their holdings of UK assets rose to a record high of 21%, an 8% increase from 13% in Q2 2018. The Q3 2018 index also found that 40% of institutional investors believe asset owners will not change their level of investment risk over the next three to five years, up 10% since Q2 2018.
Investors have shown in the past two years that the UK’s stability and familiarity continue to be appealing, regardless of the politics surrounding Brexit. In the UK’s key cities, property prices have gone up by 3.9% year-on-year and secure investment opportunities do not appear to be diminishing. Cities such as Birmingham and Manchester have seen significant increases in property price, and JLL has forecasted that between 2018-2022 these cities will see house price growth of 20.5% and 22.8% respectively, demonstrating their continuing strength and potential.
Despite the uncertainty which has proceeded the vote, IP Global Director and Head of Middle East Richard Bradstock remains confident in the viability of British investment.
‘I think there is quite a strong argument to do something sooner rather than later as far as UK property goes. If you are of the opinion that there will be a deal struck between the EU and the UK government, almost regardless of what that deal looks like, this will do two things. It will give the property market and economy a boost generally as stability and knowing how things stand will mean people will start making decisions again on investments. This will give the property market a boost as investors come back to the market and transactions start to happen with greater frequency again.
‘The bigger and more immediate argument is that the GBP is weak and so for USD based or linked investors there is an opportunity to buy property at an effective discount. As soon as any deal is announced the pound will bounce back and so there is a clear argument why people should do something in the next couple of months.
‘The essential supply and demand dynamic of the UK property market is such that Brexit/no Brexit, deal/no deal, there are long term growth prospects and you simply need to make sure you are buying sensibly and at value.’
With discussions between London and Brussels ongoing, the situation requires continued monitoring. So far, the UK’s vote to leave the EU has not had a significant impact on the real estate sector and recent months have seen promising acts of faith in the UK market be displayed by key institutions including Goldman Sachs and Facebook. The long-term nature of real estate investments, combined with the stability of the UK are important contributors to the continued appeal of property investment to both local and foreign investors. It still appears that all the pull factors of the UK – its vibrancy, global position, education, language as well as its real estate stock are helping to minimize fears of the country slipping from its position as a global leader.
Some of the UK’s largest employers are moving operations north to Manchester, bolstering the city’s economy and helping to establish exciting new employment hubs.
Business is booming in Manchester. The economy is growing rapidly, with the business, financial, creative, digital, research and development sectors leading the charge.
Large multinational businesses headquartered in the UK such as Barclays Bank and law firm Freshfields have been at the forefront of the UK’s ‘Northshoring’ movement, with both choosing Manchester as a regional hub. According to the Official Labour Market Statistics, 96,300 people are employed in banking, finance, and insurance in Manchester. The city also boasts the highest number of digital-sector jobs outside London and is home to Europe’s second-largest cluster of creative and media businesses – the BBC moved there in 2011. One of the UK’s most innovative medical research facilities, the GBP28.5 million Cancer Research Centre, is also located in Manchester while diagnostics company Qiagen, which specializes in molecular research, plans to build a genomics and diagnostics campus there.
Due to substantial population and employment growth, Manchester’s core urban area grew on average seven times faster compared to other central metropolitan areas of the UK’s biggest cities. The city now has a larger economy than that of Wales or Northern Ireland and growth is not looking to stop there. It is predicted that 55,000 new jobs will be created before 2025, adding GBP19 billion to the Total Gross Value in the economy and increasing disposable income by 28%. Employment growth in the city is expected to exceed many international capitals, including Paris, Berlin, and Tokyo, according to predictions by Oxford University economists, and Manchester’s GVA is forecast to grow to GBP73 billion by 2024.
Manchester’s economy as a whole is growing, but there are areas of the city that are hives of business activity and are establishing themselves as Manchester’s key employment hubs
Manchester is known as one of the best places to shop in the UK, and its city centre is a destination for the shopping madness. However, it is also home to a thriving business district that is supporting the growing demand from both British and international businesses who are looking to relocate or open regional hubs.
One of Manchester city centre’s notable business areas is Spinningfields, dubbed the “Canary Wharf of the North”. Spinningfields is a GBP1.6 billion estate featuring several developments and towers where PwC, Bank of New York Mellon, Barclays, Pinsent Masons and the Royal Bank of Scotland all have office space.
Manchester has seen significant investment and redevelopment in the city centre, including the GBP185 million revamp of St Peter’s Square, where there are a number of refurbished Grade II listed buildings including the Central Library and Manchester Town Hall. This is also the location of One St Peter’s Square, a GBP65 million, a 14-storey building where professional services firm KPMG and law firm DLA Piper has offices, and Two St. Peter’s Square, a GBP80 million development where Ernst & Young has taken up space.
Situated on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, on the site of the former Manchester Docks, urban regeneration project Salford Quays has a regional GVA of almost GBP1 billion and constitutes more than one-fifth of Salford’s overall economy with around 749 businesses operating in the area employing more than 25,000 people.
The Quays is home to The Lowry arts centre, which houses theatres, studio space, and a gallery, as well as cafes, bars and a restaurant; and the Imperial War Museum North, where an extensive collection of historical artefacts from 20th-century wars is on display. The area’s retail venues attract more than 4.3 million visitors per year, a 6% growth in the past four years, with shoppers contributing GBP400 million to the local economy.
Located within Salford Quays, this waterfront mixed-use development, built on brownfield land on Pier 9 of the Quays, is a centre of digital industry, learning and leisure. A number of media organisations can be found here, including the BBC North and ITV. The University of Salford and medical insurance company Bupa also work out of MediaCityUK, alongside more than 250 innovation businesses, which employ 7,000 people, including 2,700 at the BBC alone.
Set to double in size by 2026, after the local council approved plans for a GBP1 billion expansion, the agreed expansion will include new television and production studios, shops, offices, a hotel complex and more than 1,400 homes. This expansion will cater to the television production companies priced out of London and the southeast while also contributing to the development of the north of England as a media hotspot.
Opposite Salford Quays, on the other side of the Manchester Ship Canal, Trafford Park is a business park and industrial estate which was the first planned industrial estate in the world, established soon after the site was sold to financier Ernest Terah Hooley in 1896. As a business park, it peaked in 1945, when an estimated 75,000 workers were employed. Sadly it went into decline in the 1960s and 1970s, and its industry had almost disappeared by the 1980s. Plans to reverse the fortunes of Trafford Park were afoot in 1987 and by 2008 there were 1,400 companies employing 35,000 people in the estate. Close to 40,000 people are employed at Trafford Park today and it is the largest industrial estate in Europe with 1,300 companies operating there, including a number of global brands such as Kellogg’s, Unilever, L’Oreal, Adidas, Procter & Gamble, Amazon and Manchester United Football Club. It is also home to the Intu Trafford Centre, an indoor shopping and leisure complex that is the UK’s second-largest shopping centre by retail size.
Trafford Park is located just 3.5 miles from Manchester city centre, and works are currently underway on the new GBP350 million, six-stop MetroLink tram line. This will boost public transport connections to the more than 1,300 businesses at Trafford Park and Intu Trafford Centre. The new Trafford Park line is set to open in 2019.
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