Rightmove April HPI: Why Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds Are Outperforming the National Average

Rightmove 2026 April HPI: Why Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds Are Outperforming the National Average

Key Takeaways

• £373,971 Average: Rightmove's April HPI puts the national average asking price at £373,971 — up 0.8% in March but down 0.9% year-on-year.
   
• North West +2.0% YoY: Manchester's region is one of only four still in positive annual territory, with average asking prices at £271,750.
   
• 9% Faster Sales: Homes in the North West find a buyer in roughly 60 days — about 9% quicker than the 66-day UK average.
   
• Cash Advantage: Two-year fixed rates jumped from 4.25% to 5.42%, leaving cash buyers insulated from a £235/month cost increase that leveraged buyers now absorb.

1. A National Softening — But a Different Story Up North

Rightmove's April 2026 House Price Index shows the UK property market cooling at the national level. Average asking prices rose 0.8% to £373,971 in April, but they sit 0.9% lower than this time last year. The 0.8% monthly rise also falls below the long-term April average of 1.2%.

That's the headline. The more useful read for investors is what's happening underneath it. The national figure is being weighed down by London and the South — while three of the cities Rothmore covers most closely are quietly outperforming.

2. Why Manchester Is the UK’s Off-Plan Capital in 2026

Rightmove publishes its data by region rather than by city, but the regional figures map cleanly onto Rothmore's core markets. The picture for April 2026:

2.1 Manchester:

Manchester (North West): +0.4% month-on-month, +2.0% year-on-year, average asking price £271,750. Time to find a buyer: 60 days.

2.2 Birmingham:

Birmingham (West Midlands): +1.65% month-on-month, +1.21% year-on-year, average £299,150. Time to find a buyer: 66 days.

2.3 Leeds:

Leeds (Yorkshire and The Humber): +1.28% month-on-month, +1.05% year-on-year, average £258,812. Time to find a buyer: 69 days.

2.4 London:

London: -0.12% month-on-month, -2.72% year-on-year, average £680,147. Time to find a buyer: 74 days.

Three of the four are in positive year-on-year territory. London is the outlier, posting the worst annual figure of any UK region in the report — and pulling the national headline down with it.

3. Manchester Sells Around 9% Faster than the UK Average

The 60-day average time to find a buyer in the North West is roughly 9% faster than the UK-wide average of 66 days. For investors, time-to-sell matters as much as price growth — it's a proxy for liquidity, tenant demand, and how quickly capital can move when needed.

Manchester's combination of positive annual growth and faster transaction speed is a stronger picture than the national headline suggests. It's also consistent with the multi-year pattern: capital growth has been rotating from London to the northern English cities for several years, and the April data reinforces rather than disrupts that trend.

4. The Mortgage Rate Spike and What It Means for Cash Buyers

The most significant short-term shift in the report is in mortgage rates. Rightmove's daily mortgage tracker shows the average two-year fixed rate has risen from 4.25% to 5.42% — an increase that adds roughly £235 per month to a typical new mortgage payment.

For UK leveraged investors, that's a meaningful headwind. For cash buyers, it's not. A 1.17 percentage-point shift in lender pricing has no impact on a cash purchase — the cost-of-capital is unchanged, and the yield arithmetic is unchanged. Overseas investors using non-UK financing share the same insulation, since their borrowing costs are tied to their home market rather than UK gilts.

The practical effect is that cash-positioned and internationally-financed investors are operating in materially better conditions than they were six months ago, while their UK leveraged counterparts are absorbing higher monthly costs on every new deal.

Quick FAQ:

    Q: Should I wait for mortgage rates to fall before buying?
    A: If you're a cash buyer, the rate environment is already neutral — there's no financing cost to wait out. If you're financing in the UK, the picture is more nuanced: Rightmove notes rates have stabilised in the past fortnight, but next moves depend on inflation data and the Bank of England's response. Off-plan completion timelines (12-24 months) may benefit from rate cycles turning back down before you complete.

5. Yield Maths Quietly Improves

One often-overlooked point in the data: rental growth is now outpacing asking-price growth at the national level. Zoopla forecasts UK rents to rise around 3% in 2026, while Rightmove's national asking prices are -0.9% year-on-year.

Even in the regions that are still seeing capital growth — like the North West at +2.0% — rents are rising faster than prices. That's a quietly positive shift for buy-to-let yields. When rents grow faster than capital values, gross yield arithmetic improves. It's not a dramatic move, but for income-focused investors, it's the right side of the trend line.

6. Why Off-plan Timing Still Works in This Market

Off-plan property suits the current cycle. Buyers lock prices at today's levels, with completion typically 12-24 months out. By the time the unit completes and any mortgage is drawn, the rate environment may look very different from May 2026. Rightmove notes financial markets have stabilised over the past fortnight but rates remain elevated; the next moves depend on inflation data and Bank of England decisions.

For investors who don't need rates to fall to make the deal work today, off-plan offers optionality: lock prices now, with the chance — not the guarantee — of a softer rate environment by completion.

Explore: Manchester Buy-to-Let Developments

A curated portfolio of completed and off-plan apartments across Manchester's strongest postcodes — built for yield, capital growth, and the investor profiles that fit today's market. Suited to cash buyers, overseas investors, and those targeting the UK's strongest-performing regional city.

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7. What to watch next

Three data points will tell us how the rest of Q2 plays out:

• Bank of England MPC decision (next meeting): financial markets are now pricing further holds rather than cuts — a meaningful shift from late-2025 expectations.
   
• Halifax and Nationwide May indices: mortgaged-only data, often a more reliable read than asking prices for the underlying market.
   
• ONS Private Rents release: confirms whether rental growth is sustaining the yield case as sales-side activity softens.

When the data lands and there's something genuinely worth flagging for investors, we'll write it up. Bookmark the Rothmore property news blog and check back over the coming weeks — we cover the property market shifts that actually move the needle for buy-to-let investors, rather than reacting to every release.

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