City centre residential property sales and rental prices held steady among the UK’s ‘Big Six’ markets in 2024 despite economic and political uncertainty, according to research from property advisor JLL.

The ‘Big Six’ research, which tracks residential prices and rents across Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow, highlighted the robustness of both rental and sales prices in spite of ongoing headwinds.  Average prices maintained a modest annual price growth of 2.1% in the 12 months up to December, while most have seen a more balanced rental market emerge.

Big Six rentals

The rental market across the Big Six dropped back from recent double-digit highs, with growth averaging 4.2% in 2024.

Rental growth has been particularly strong over the last three years, but as inflation and wage growth drop back, JLL noted more of a normalisation within the market, both nationally and across the Big Six.

Some markets continue to show near double digit growth, a combination of higher specification new build stock completing and being slightly later in the rental growth cycle. Rental prices rose 9.5% on average in Birmingham for the year, the strongest of the six, with Edinburgh second on 6.9%.

Manchester saw rents broadly plateau annually at the end of 2024, but this follows particularly high growth in recent years, with rents almost 50% higher than they were five years ago.

Big Six sales

JLL’s research showed a mixed picture between the first and last six months of the year. H1 was characterised by competition between major lenders, with mortgage rates falling to lows compared to recent years. Despite that, sales eased later in the year as rates crept back up.

Comparably, lower priced markets such as Glasgow (+4.2%) and Birmingham (+4.1%) have continued to see the strongest annual price growth as higher rates continued to impact buyers’ budgets in more expensive markets.

Marcus Dixon, director of UK residential research at JLL, said:“Sustained demand for city centre living has supported growth in prices and rents for new homes in most markets across the Big Six.

“The UK’s housing market continues to show resilience, that, along with the outlook for 2025 and beyond, should give investors and developers optimism.

“We forecast the UK’s build to rent sector will see rental growth of 20.5% over the next five years, with the current lack of stock and strong demand fuelling activity.

“Elsewhere, average sale prices in Birmingham will outperform other regions in the coming years, while rentals will hold up strongly in Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol as students and young professionals increasingly eye them as viable alternatives to London.”