Law firm on course for record year

The real estate team at Manchester law firm Slater Heelis is on track for a record year as it predicts the property market in the North West will continue to be buoyant through 2018.

The Deansgate-based firm advised on more than £150m of property transactions alone in the past 12 months, including some of Manchester’s highest profile new developments, such as the Siemens Campus in West Didsbury, the former AstraZeneca site at Alderley Park and De Trafford Estates’ residential portfolio, which will add a further 2,000 units to Manchester’s city centre residential stock.

Slater Heelis also welcomed high profile new hires Simon Maddox from Gateley, Daniel Stern from Turner Parkinson and Matt Grellier from Squire Patton Boggs as department turnover is expected to rise by 20% year on year and by more than 40 per cent over the past two years.

Will Henson, head of commercial property at Slater Heelis, said: “These are exciting times for the property sector in the North West and Manchester in particular.

“Office rents will continue to rise as a shortfall of Grade A space will push up rents in both Grade A and B property. With stronger than average employment growth, I would expect office take-up to continue to rise, potentially even topping the 20% growth in take up we saw last year.”

Slater Heelis is also optimistic about the residential sector performance through 2018.

Anne Irwin, managing partner and head of residential at Slater Heelis Manchester, said: “It is anticipated that house prices in the North West are expected to grow between 18 and 28 per cent in the North West over the next five years.

“Manchester city centre is still booming and there are thousands of new homes in the city centre pipeline. Even so, I expect demand will need to push supply even further and that the city could comfortably accommodate more than 3,000 new residential units per year.”

Slater Heelis has offices in Manchester city centre and Sale also recently launched a dedicated construction and engineering department to provide its property clients will a genuine full service from land acquisition through to plot sales.