Young people are being pushed out of Manchester
Key Points
- Manchester rents averaged £1,358 a month in June 2026, up 3.5% in a year.
- Cost of living topped the list of problems for Greater Manchester residents at 51%, with housing on 24%.
- The average Manchester home cost £247,000 in May 2026, and first-time buyers paid £232,000.
- Bev Craig won the mayoral by-election on 31 July with affordability named as the priority residents want addressed.
Renting in Manchester now costs £1,358 a month on average, according to the Office for National Statistics, as residents name the cost of living as the biggest problem facing the city-region.
Polling by More in Common in Greater Manchester found 51% naming the cost of living as one of the biggest issues, ahead of crime and antisocial behaviour on 30%, access to the NHS on 25% and housing on 24%.
The same research found broad approval for how the city-region has changed, with 52% saying Andy Burnham left it better against 10% who said worse.
Focus groups run alongside the poll pointed to rent as the pressure point for younger residents.
“I’ve come back to Manchester and rent’s over a grand,” said Ellie, a special needs teacher who left the city for university and moved out of her old area on returning. Another participant, Alex, who works in social services in Stretford, said roughly half the people he knows have left Manchester over affordability.
What the numbers show
Manchester rents rose 3.5% over the year to June 2026, up from £1,312. That sits just below the UK average of £1,388 and marks slower growth than the North West as a whole, where rents climbed 5.4% over the same period to an average of £961. Manchester therefore costs renters around £400 a month more than the regional average.
Buying carries its own barrier and is largely impossible without parental help.
The average Manchester home cost £247,000 in May 2026, little changed on the year, while first-time buyers paid £232,000 on average. Flat prices fell 2% over the year to May, and semi-detached homes rose 2.5%. Across the North West, average house prices climbed 5.8%.
Safety came up as the second theme, particularly around Piccadilly Gardens in the city centre, where residents in the focus groups described avoiding the area.
Bev Craig won the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election on Friday (31 July), taking 309,525 votes to 157,178 for Sian Astley of Reform UK after second preferences, on a turnout of 25%. Labour topped the poll in all ten local authority areas in the first round.
