Manchester has recorded the strongest house price growth of any major British city over the past decade, with asking prices up 63 percent, while London has posted the weakest growth at just 7 percent, according to new Rightmove analysis.
The portal said the average asking price in Manchester has risen from £160,422 to £261,891 over 10 years. London remains the most expensive city overall at £687,080, but its slower growth points to how stretched affordability has become in the capital.
For landlords and buy-to-let investors, the figures matter because they show where capital growth has been strongest and where lower starting prices have still allowed room for gains. They also underline how much the market story has shifted away from a London-first model.
Manchester suburbs dominate the strongest growth table
Rightmove said the four fastest-growing local areas over the past 10 years were all in Greater Manchester – Levenshulme, Atherton, Droylsden and Failsworth – with price growth of around 80 percent. Wolverhampton and Newport also ranked near the top of the city table, alongside Nottingham, Wakefield, Salford, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Doncaster and Swansea.
Mary-Lou Press, NAEA Propertymark president, said affordability had become one of the biggest drivers of long-term house price growth, with lower-cost regional markets benefiting while higher-value areas such as London faced natural limits. She said Manchester’s rise also reflected economic growth, investment, transport links and changing working patterns.
That fits a broader trend already visible across landlord and investor coverage this year. Landlord Knowledge recently reported on Nationwide’s June house price fall after the stamp duty change, while Savills has also cut its 2026 forecast as landlord sales add price pressure. The latest Rightmove release adds a longer-term view to that shorter-term market noise.
Affordability is shaping the north-south split
Rightmove’s data showed no southern England cities in the top 10 for fastest growth over the last 10 years, while half of the slowest-growing cities were in the south. The company said that reflects a simple constraint: expensive markets have had less room to climb further, while cheaper regional cities have remained more accessible to buyers.
The underlying report also points to spillover growth from large regional centres into nearby cities where prices remain lower. Rightmove cited patterns such as Manchester to Salford, Birmingham to Wolverhampton, and Leeds to Wakefield and Bradford. Readers can review the full Rightmove long-term house price analysis.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s report on Savills cutting its 2026 house price forecast as landlord sales add pressure. Taken together, the two stories suggest investors may need to think more carefully about where growth still has room to run, rather than assuming the capital will always lead the market.
What this means for landlords
- If you’re targeting capital growth: lower-cost regional cities may still offer more headroom than high-value southern markets.
- Watch for: affordability spillover into satellite areas around major cities, where demand may strengthen before headline city averages fully catch up.
- Bottom line: the strongest long-term growth has come from value-led regional markets, not from London’s prestige pricing.
Editor’s view
Landlords do not need another reminder that London is expensive. What they do need is a clearer map of where price growth still has momentum, and Rightmove’s decade view suggests that has been the North and Midlands for some time.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 16 June 2026
Sources: Rightmove, Propertymark
Related reading: Savills cuts 2026 forecast as landlord sales add price pressure
