Dataset on Build To Rent Developments, Developers, Financiers and Property Managers in Manchester, 2012-2020

Goulding, Richard and Leaver, Adam and Silver, Jonathan (2025). Dataset on Build To Rent Developments, Developers, Financiers and Property Managers in Manchester, 2012-2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-858046

The sight of skyscrapers on Manchester's skyline contrasts with the boarded-up shops of towns nearby. This raises questions about the ability of Manchester's city-regional model to create inclusive, accountable, sustainable growth and thus its suitability as a blueprint for urban regeneration within the Northern Powerhouse area.

This project will investigate whether the ideas which underpin the Manchester model of regional development and the Northern Powerhouse actually work. Those ideas claim that the growth of flat building in city centres creates 'agglomeration' benefits - that is, that a growing concentration of skilled people, finance and technology in the same city creates productivity improvements which spill out into surrounding areas. We will do this through an in-depth financial and spatial analysis of investment in Manchester's 'Build To Rent' (BTR) sector - a special property class common in Manchester that is built specifically for renters.

We will consider whether Manchester's 'property-led regeneration' model of attracting private investment into BTR to boost growth might in fact have the opposite effect. Competition for land may push up rents and create opportunities for financial extraction for large global companies, taking money away from local economies. It may also encourage speculation which encourages companies to take on more debt, introducing new risks in a market downturn. It may also add to the costs of infrastructure development, creating inefficiencies. And it may pull in investment, technology and skills from surrounding towns into central areas in ways that harm those towns. We refer to these problems as problems of the 'centripetal city'. This metaphor is designed to capture the vortex-like motion whereby skills and other resources are pulled to the centre of Manchester, the benefits of which are funnelled to global investors. This contrasts with the 'centrifugal' metaphor that underpins property-led, agglomerative regeneration strategies - that productivity gains in the city centre are thrown out into the regions.

In terms of methods, we bring together expertise in accounting and economic geography to investigate the financial and spatial relations and outcomes of BTR construction, from the way it is marketed, to the way it is constructed to its financial and spatial effects.

Our project will be broken down into four themes. Our first theme will examine how Manchester sells itself as a city and its BTR property assets to global investors, because the visions and commitments set out in those deals shapes the process of urban regeneration in Greater Manchester. We will also examine the role of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) in the marketing of those assets.

Our second theme will use detailed accounting analysis to examine how those assets are constructed, which companies are involved in their construction and the way money flows through those organisations. This will tell us about the extent of extraction in BTR. It will also tell us about the balance of on- and off-shore companies in this sector, thus providing a transparency and accountability aspect. We will also examine how financially stable BTR companies and their housing assets are, providing an economic sustainability lens for our BTR research.

Our third theme will examine the effects of Manchester's regeneration model at different spatial scales. This will draw out whether centrifugal or centripetal forces (or some combination of the two) are at work in Greater Manchester. We will use a variety of socio-economic indicators (business mortality rate, shop footfall, inward migration etc) to examine the presence or otherwise of centripetal forces.

Our fourth theme is our impact theme. This theme will draw on our findings to develop engagement strategies which aim to build civil society resistance to extractive forms of development which undermine inclusive, accountable and sustainable development.

Data description (abstract)

This database was built by Richard Goulding, Adam Leaver and Jonathan Silver. It is a complete dataset of all build-to-rent developments in the central/core region of Greater Manchester. It draws on a number of different sources - planning documents, land registry data, property industry journals and other publicly available housing data. it contains data on the following variables: Planning Date Planning Reference Name of development Area Post-code Total Resi Units Tenure Model Tenure Change Status Owner Funder Deliverer Significant Institutional owners Manager Other companies Total Resi Units For sale For rent Total market Social rent Affordable rent Shared ownership Other intermediate Total affordable Est. affordable if 20% Other (student/hotel) Total units (all) Offsite s106 housing contributions Other s106 contributions Source Offshore Involvement Non-UK actors Country Role of non-UK actos Public Loan (value) Type of public loan Public Land Public Land Registry Reference Gross Development value Cost of Development Profit Local plan benchmark land value 2009 Est. EUV+ Benchmark Land Value Residual Land Value Est. Profit on Cost Est. Profit on GDV Plot size (acres) Est. Benchmark Land Cost per Acre Est. Residual Land Cost per Acre Starting Price for 1 bed Starting price for 2 bed Source Average Rental 1-bed Average Rental 2-bed Average Rental 3-bed Evidence of marketed abroad Source Est. Council tax *(based on 1-bed) Notes

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