Manchester hotel investment higher than any city outside London

Hotel investment volumes in Manchester were higher than any other UK city outside of London in 2017, with nine deals totalling £178.55m.

According to real estate advisor Savills, this was 52% greater than the £117.43m seen in Edinburgh, the second highest regional city by volume, and more than double Manchester’s £83.1m total in 2016.

Deal count was also up year-on-year in Manchester, reports the firm, with nine hotel transactions completed in 2017 compared to six in 2016.  Overseas investors were the dominant buyer type, accounting for 81.5% (£145.5m) of hotel deals.  This was led by Singaporean and US investors, with purchases totalling £91m and  £54.5m respectively.

Savills highlights Dominvs Group’s £54.5m sale of the Holiday Inn Manchester City Centre to US-based Starwood Capital and Westmont Hospitality’s £52.5m sale of the Lowry Hotel to Singaporean City Developments Ltd (CDL) among the most notable deals of last year.

The latter underlines the particularly strong demand from Asia-Pacific buyers in Manchester, where 49.3% of all hotel acquisitions in the UK regions by this buyer type were located in 2017.

There were 1,127 individual hotel rooms sold in Manchester last year, says Savills, marking a 32% increase on the 854 room total of 2016.  At £144,560, the average price per room was 36% higher than the UK average (excluding London) of £106,290.

Tom Cunningham, hotels director at Savills Manchester, said:  “Manchester is a truly global city with high levels of recognition thanks to its international airports, forward-thinking city council, strong visitor numbers and numerous sporting, business and leisure events every year.  The strength of its hotel investment market is a reflection of this, and we expect 2018 to be another robust year.”