With a large student population and being the major business centre in the North West, Manchester’s property market is highly buoyant. With plenty of potential buyers and renters, Manchester estate agents aren’t struggling to find property to buy, sell or rent. As of 2007, Manchester had the fastest growing economy in the UK thanks to it’s largely service based industry. In 2010 Manchester was ranked as the 2^nd best city to locate a business in the UK and the 12^th best in Europe. With this kudos, many people are moving to Manchester in order to gain employment or further their careers.

Thanks to the new Metrolink system, many outlying suburbs are become excellent commuter towns. Linking Bury, Eccles and Altrincham (and everywhere in between) to the city centre makes commuting both cheap and easy, even if you can’t always get a seat. Manchester estate agents are recommending properties along the metro link routes as ideal alternatives to city centre living.

The Metrolink is currently being expanded to serve Didsbury, Manchester airport, Ashton-under-Lyne and Rochdale, which means these areas will too soon be on the Metrolink commuter hub for those working in central Manchester. Now is a great time to buy properties in these areas as once the Metrolink to the city centre is complete, property prices will only begin to increase.

By Barry Summers

Before we had the internet, buying a house or flat in another town or county wasn’t quite so easy. All the local estate agents only listed local properties for sale as does the local press. However these days you can search for properties for sale all over the UK without even leaving your sitting room. By checking estate agents online you can search by town and county, filtering the results by cheapest first or those within a specific price range.

Modern websites also allow one to specify the number of bedrooms required, whether or not the property has on or off street parking, a garage and/or gardens. By being able to search in such a specific way, one can save lots of time churning through the results looking for what they’re after. Instead, all the properties which fit your criteria will be returned, making house hunting much much easier.

Other benefits of using estate agents online is you can see exactly where the property is located, and by using online maps you can check where local shops, buses and other amenities are. High quality photographs of each room are often provided, as are accurate floor plans so you can really get a feel for the place before viewing. The internet has revolutionised many things, and house hunting is no exception.

By Carl Liver