Investing in Manchester – How about looking across the river to Salford?

Considering investing in Manchester? Then you must look at Salford as an area too.

As part of the series of blogs that I have written about investing in Manchester and the best area in Manchester for buy to let, I now want to look at Salford as an area in it’s own right. It is proving increasingly popular for property investors right now.

Salford and Manchester are two cities that lie adjacent to each other, with a rich history and deep connection. You can pass back and forth between the cities without really noticing apart from the odd sign telling you that, ” you are now entering Salford”. The benefit of two cities being so close is that both benefit from the attractions of each other, you get the best of both worlds while having a piece of that individual space.

For those that don’t know the area, the most important thing first is to identify the border, so when you are looking at investing in Manchester, you know where you are – Manchester or Salford!? This is a handy map to pinpoint the other metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester.

Salford, like Manchester, is an area made up of smaller pockets, you may have heard of areas such as Eccles? These are areas within the borough of Salford. In this blog I will pin point a few of these areas to consider when researching Salford as a whole.

Investing in Manchester or Salford - know the boundary

1. PROPERTY TYPES

Investing in Manchester or Salford?

This is very typical of a Salford Street, the mix of traditional terraces with a slightly more modern property close by. The property type in Salford does not differ hugely from that across Greater Manchester as a whole.

Our property stock is mostly made of Victorian terraces and 1940’s semis. You do not notice a huge difference between Manchester and Salford, which is in my opinion another benefit. So you can be active in both cities with the same strategy for investing in Manchester or Salford.

2. PROPERTY PRICES

These are the three areas I have chosen to discuss in more detail. If you have read my other area blogs about the best area in Manchester for buy to let, you may notice that these prices are slightly higher than shown in the other areas.

Please keep in mind that we are now 12 months on since those figures were released and that some parts of Salford are a stones throw from Manchester city centre, rather than being 5 or 7 miles away as Failsworth and Ashton under Lyne.

M6 and M7 Postcodes

 

Postcode map of Manchester

Salford M6 (M6 refers to the postcode area) and is the area as shown on the maps above. Note that M1, M2 and M3 are all Manchester city centre postcodes. An good example of a traditional and suitable investment property in the M6 area, is something like this; this woudl rent for between £500 and £600 depending on it’s condition, let’s use £550 to give us a gross yield of 7.7%.

Investing in Manchester or Salford - example property

This map also shows Lower Broughton (M7) and it’s proximity to Manchester’s thriving centre.

Lower Broughton’s average purchase price is slightly skewed by a huge development to regenerate the area known as New Broughton Village bu Salford Council and Countryside properties. This has drastically improved this area, with a new range of housing stock and the building of the new River View School. You can read more about this area here.

So if you are investing in Manchester and Salford postcodes M6 and M7 you will be paying a slightly higher price for the property but the yields are still strong and the proximity to Manchester and the transport networks around it cannot be underestimated.

Eccles M30 is slightly further away from the M6 and M7 areas and links up nicely to the M60 on the west side of the city. This is the more traditional area and can be compared more directly to areas such as Denton and Failsworth that we have looked at before, it is more comparable price wise too.

I have included the LHA (Housing Benefit) figures here so you can see how your yield changes if you open up the property to Housing Benefit tenants, as always with our patch it does not drastically affect it. I prefer working tenants as a rule but have a number of HB tenants and am not adversed to them at all, it is all about choosing the right tenant whether working or not so it is important to do your sums with both eventualities in mind. for further reading here is a blog I have written about the myths and the pros for landlords of Housing Benefit Tenants.

3. TRANSPORT

Salford has excellent transport links, benefiting from road, rail, bus and tram connections across it. The tram has long been running through Salford out to Eccles and now the tram line incporporates access to Salford Quays and Media City.

There are two train stations in Salford, Salford Crescent and Salford Central. For the car journeys the M602 and M60 all feed out from Salford too. So do not worry, Salford is well connected between it’s own localities and to places further afield.

4. SCHOOLS

I have no first hand experience of schools in Salford so please use these links to look into specific schools that may be located close to your investment property.

Wikipedia – list of schools in Salford

Salford Council – School Finder

BBC – Secondary school league table for Salford

5. SUPERMARKETS

As I have mentioned in other areas, you are never far from a supermarket in an urban area – Salford is no exception. there is a huge Sainsbury’s on the border of Salford and Manchester at Regent Road, plus a number of the other big name super markets in other parts of Salford.

This is an urban area that is catering for its population very well. along with the bigger name supermarkets each district will benefit from smaller local shops that supply newsagent and grocery type of goods.

6. RETAIL PARKS

Salford Retail Parks

There are three brilliant Retail Parks across Salford as you can located across this map here.

The great thing about living in an urban environment like Salford is not only do you have all that Manchester has to offer but you have the out of time shopping parks that we see across our cities these days which really are excellent amenities and provide employment opportunities.

7. OUTDOOR SPACE

Salford Council have an excellent age on their website listing the parks and out door spaces within their area. This map shows you the number of spaces and if you follow this link you can find out more about each one.

Salford Parks

8. SPORT

While Manchester boats two major Premier League Football Teams, Salford does not have one. However it does have the popular Salford Reds Rugby League team. They moved a few years ago to a fantastic new site between Eccles and Irlam.

Due to the proximity of Salford to Manchester, the sporting activities can be enjoyed across both areas with ease.

7. FOOD, DRINK AND ENTERTAINMENT

Food Glorious Food, it is everywhere across Salford, from local take aways to restaurants across Salford and Manchester. To ensure you get a good feed, check out this link to Trip Advisor’s list of restaurants in Salford

SUMMARY

I hope this article has given you some insight into Salford, how it fits into the Greater Manchester picture. I feel really lucky to be investing in Manchester, an area that offers so much in terms of where you can invest in property.

We have access to numerous different localities which all work fabulously for buy to let strategies and really great yields can be achieved across all areas.

If you want to take action now in Salford I would suggest researching the areas I have mentioned, spending some time on Rightmove getting a fel for the available properties and most importantly getting out there and booking some viewings on properties.

Nothing gets you to grips with an area like getting out there and being in it.

If you would like to discuss any of the above with me or any other topics relating to investing in Manchester then I would love to hear from you. Please contact me through the Contact Form and I look forward to assisting you with you your search.

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