House prices in the north west leapt by 2.5 per cent in the month to mid October according to property website Rightmove, and quality properties in the region are often selling within a week.

Nationally, prices rose on average by 2.8 per cent. Rightmove commercial director Miles Shipside said that buyers were snapping up new instructions and were willing to proceed, as they believed prices had bottomed. More buyers were finding the ability to put down the larger deposits required to access the best mortgage deals.

The BBC has received the keys to the first of its three buldings in the massive MediaCityUK development in Salford Quays, to which 2,500 employees of the Corporation will relocate by 2011. Building C, the largest of the three, will be home to BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport and local and regional news. In spring 2010 the remaining two buildings – A and B – which will house BBC Children’s, BBC Learning, religion, radio, hundreds of technologists and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, will also be handed over, creating the Corporation’s second biggest base after London.

The MediaCityUK development has brought in £92m worth of business for Salford firms, triggering a boom for the local construction industry.

Manchester has led the way in urban regeneration over the past decade, transforming the post-industrial gloom that existed into a stylish, modern city of growing international repute. The array of tall gleaming buildings, coupled with elegant post-modern architecture, have made Manchester a desirable place to live, work and invest.

This is reflected in Cushman and Wakefield’s UK Cities Monitor 2008, in which businesses across the country voted Manchester the best city for a new headquarters, the second best city to invest in after London and second best in terms of transport systems and links, also after London.

source: Insider magazine/Oct 09