The North has much to offer as a place to live, work and do business, and the Northern Powerhouse brand has helped to put a global spotlight on our key cities and their unique strengths.

Devolved powers in Manchester mean the city can react more quickly to the demands of the economy than ever before. Liverpool has established its role as a world leader in bio sciences and boasts an ever-expanding talent pool with leading universities and high graduate retention levels.

Across Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool the cost of doing business remains significantly lower than in London and the South East. In fact, Savills research revealed that annual work station costs per employee are around £8,000 lower in these cities than in London.

The Northern Powerhouse brings all these positive factors together to create a globally appealing regional economy capable of attracting investment from all over the world.

High-profile examples of this include the Chinese firm BCG, which invested in Manchester’s Airport City, and the Employees Pension Fund of Malaysia, which invested in Cube, Knowsley. The Port of Liverpool building and Pall Mall Court, Manchester have also been acquired by Middle Eastern and American investors respectively.

Job creation in the region has been very strong, particularly in the professional services industries which has outstripped growth in the South East. This should only intensify as we see further inward investment into the North. In turn, this increases occupational pressure across all property sectors and means that rental growth projections are currently stronger here than in many other regions.

Additionally, the strength of the region’s universities and labour pool is creating confidence in the North as a location to invest in for the long term, knowing that world-class businesses will choose to locate here to take advantage of this market place.

The success of the Northern Powerhouse now relies on creating the infrastructure needed to support the region's expanding economy and prevent it from stalling. Transport is a vital part of this but there is currently very little appearance of a cohesive transport strategy across the North, particularly with poor West to East rail links and a road network which is close to capacity.

Delivering sufficient housing and business space is also vital but at present we are experiencing a shortfall of 5,000 homes per annum in Greater Manchester alone. A further 3 million sq ft of new office accommodation will also be required in the next decade.

2015 was another extremely strong year for investment into the Northern region, with £2.06 billion of transactions in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. Overseas investors continue to show confidence in these core markets, accounting for circa 25 per cent of the total transaction volume.

Traditionally, prime Manchester assets have offered the greatest level of security for investors and indeed they accounted for over half of the £2.06 billion transacted last year. However, looking ahead we expect returns to be driven by income rather than capital growth.

On this basis, offices in Manchester and industrial property in the region’s key hubs such as Wakefield, Trafford Park and Warrington will offer the best returns. Each have inherent supply constraints providing strong potential for rental growth, despite the healthy development pipeline.The regional leisure market is also very strong, with rents rising up to 50 per cent over the past 18 months and long leases offering good income security.

With London looking increasingly expensive across all investment asset classes plus high property and staffing costs, now is the time for the North to shine as both an investment prospect and a place to do business.

Further information

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