Partner Article

Prosperity rising in Manchester despite economic uncertainty

By Steve Renfrew, Regional Director, North West Region, Barclays Wealth and Investment Management

The past 12 months have been marked by uncertain economic conditions and volatile stock markets. However, despite these conditions, there has been an overall uplift in prosperity across every region of the UK in comparison to last year. Recently we published the second annual Barclays Prosperity Index which uses a unique ‘Prosperity Index Score’ for each UK region taking into account factors including number of millionaires, household wealth, entrepreneurial activity and exam scores.

Unsurprisingly, London continues to be the most prosperous UK city, but it is encouraging to see that signs of prosperity are also emerging in other areas of the country. For example, in a sign of its status as an increasingly attractive city to live and work, Manchester saw house prices rise by 7%, coming out above Cardiff (6%), Leeds (5%) and Newcastle (5%). The SME community is also buoyant, driven by a very strong performance in Manchester’s start-up hub where businesses’ turnover grew by 15%. This comes out above other major cities such as Cardiff (12%), Sheffield and Bristol (11%) and Norfolk (9%).

Prosperous entrepreneurship

According to the Federation of Small Business (FSB) there were 5.4 million registered private sector businesses last year, an enormous 1.9 million more than in 2000[1]. With this surge in entrepreneurial activity, some of the greatest success stories are to be found beyond the traditional economic strongholds of London and the South East. In fact, it was Manchester that delivered the second largest year-on-year increase in SME turnover at 15% – a clear indicator of growing prosperity in the North West region. The city has become a buzzing entrepreneurial hub and, with an average age of 45, has some of the youngest business owners in the UK.

With entrepreneurship being an important driver of personal wealth, it is no surprise that it is also on the rise in the North West, with our research showing a 4% growth in the North West for overall household wealth.

It is important that we allow for these entrepreneurial hotspots to expand beyond traditional city boundaries across the Northern Powerhouse and do all that we can to promote areas like Manchester and the wider North West as places where businesses can really thrive and grow.

Looking to the future

Based on our findings, it is very encouraging that prosperity in the North West, and particularly in cities like Manchester, appears to be on an upwards trajectory, with our region’s innovative entrepreneurs playing a vital part in supporting growth. We can feel confident that these signs of growth show that not only is our region very much still ‘open for business’, but that we also have an important role to play in the prosperity of the UK as a whole.

[1] http://www.fsb.org.uk/media-centre/small-business-statistics

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rachel Finlay .