Market report

The Greater Manchester industrial property market

An industrial market report for Greater Manchester, with the finance we arrange across 9 industrial catchments in the county.

9
Industrial catchments
£7.63/sq ft
Avg multi-let rent (North West)
9.4%
Industrial vacancy (UK, MSCI)
22,769
House sales, 12m (tracked towns)
Matt Lenzie
Written and reviewed by Matt Lenzie Founder & Principal Broker · 25 years arranging commercial property finance

Greater Manchester sits within the North West industrial market. Greater Manchester was established in 1974 and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs with a combined population of around three million. We arrange acquisition finance, commercial mortgages, bridging, development finance, mezzanine and term debt on light industrial property across the county, tracking 9 industrial catchments, led by Manchester, Salford, Trafford Park, Wigan and Bolton.

The market figures below are reported nationally or at regional level by the industry's research sources, attributed to each source, and used as context rather than a Greater Manchester-specific measurement. The planning data and housing-transaction context is genuinely local and sourced from council planning registers and HM Land Registry.

Industrial locations and landlords across Greater Manchester

Industrial demand concentrates along the A58, A6, A56, A57 and A627(M) corridors, where road access drives occupier demand for units and yards. Established industrial locations such as Trafford Park are the natural home for workshops, trade counters and multi-let units, and the first places a valuer looks for rental comparables. Multi-let landlords with estates across the county include Flexspace, Towngate PLC, Indurent, Mileway and BizSpace.

Rents, vacancy and yields

The UK multi-let industrial market runs to 500m+ sq ft of space (Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let, Winter bulletin 2024). Regional multi-let rents average around £7.63/sq ft (North West multi-let average, Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let Winter bulletin 2024, Q3 2024), with the region's top prime rents at £16/sq ft (Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let Winter bulletin 2024, Q3 2024), and prime multi-let equivalent yields sit around 5.25% (Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let Winter bulletin 2024, Q3 2024). Nationally, MSCI put industrial vacancy at 9.4% (MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index, Q4 2025 results, Dec 2025), and forecast multi-let rental growth runs at 4.6% (Gerald Eve (Newmark), Multi-Let Winter bulletin 2024, 2024 to 2028 forecast).

Industrial demand signals in Greater Manchester

Development activity is visible locally: 20 recent industrial planning applications in the county's council registers, tracked through our planning data feed across more than 100 UK council portals. As a local-economy signal, the 8 Greater Manchester towns we track recorded 22,769 residential transactions in the last twelve months on HM Land Registry price paid data; housing-market context rather than industrial volume, but a read on the depth of the economy that fills small units.

Light industrial finance in Greater Manchester

We arrange the full lifecycle of light industrial finance across Greater Manchester: commercial mortgages for owner-occupiers and investors, acquisition finance for units and estates, bridging for auctions and vacant property, development and mezzanine finance for builds and refurbishments, and term debt for the long-term hold. Send us the deal and we will come back within one working day.

Industrial market figures are published nationally or at North West level (Gerald Eve Multi-Let; MSCI; Savills) and are presented as context for Greater Manchester rather than a county-specific measurement. Housing-transaction figures are HM Land Registry price paid data for the towns we track; planning references are from council planning registers.

By town

Light industrial finance by town in Greater Manchester

Each town carries its own catchment profile, demand signals and market context.

Finance

The finance we arrange in Greater Manchester

Eight products across the whole light industrial lifecycle.

Property types

Industrial property types we fund across Greater Manchester

Every format is underwritten differently. We know which lenders back each one.

Funding an industrial unit in Greater Manchester?

Send us the outline and we will come back with a view on fundability and likely terms.