Guide to best areas to live in Manchester for first job new to the area

[Pistachiomonster]

Best areas to live near Manchester for young graduates early 20’s and best places to look for somewhere to rent needed from July? One will be commuting to Birchwood business park three days a week the other will be commuting to Manchester three days a week.

Two Uni friends new to the area want to find a house or flat to rent. Need parking for two cars, access to good public transport, social life and reasonable rent. Chat GPT comes up with Monton, Didsbury, Altrincham, Urmston, Irlam
and Stretford.

Were things that bad and competitive in Manchester areas for rentals too @Rincoe?

So far where would everyone suggest would be the front runners based on the priorities above? Spare seems to tend to be mainly a lot of HMO’s and most things seem to
say available now. Any Estate agents anyone has used or any other good places to search? Thanks

If they can commuter using public transport, consider Stockport. So many trains to Manchester and a very short trip. Or even Heaton Chapel (cheaper than Heaton Moor but can still walk there plus has its own train station). Parr's Wood/East Didsbury has train and tram links plus very close to motorway junctions.

We just called in at several of the rental agents on Deansgate, and made appointments to view .
Apartments don’t hang around empty for long!

Thank you some days the one working in Warrington needs the car to visit customers much further afield not easily accessible by public transport.

I'm in Urmston, she'd struggle to get a rental here, they are snapped up within hours of being advertised

Some of those areas you’ve mentioned are mostly in Trafford, which is nice but quite mumsy and middle aged in places.

Traffic is terrible all over at peak times, especially in and around Didsbury.

Competition for rentals is fierce here in the popular areas.

For commuting into Warrington, they need to be in south Manchester. Look at Stockport, or maybe Levenshulme or Cheadle.

Agree. Once it’s advertised go to see it immediately - don’t wait until the Saturday if it was advertised on the Monday. It will be gone and your appointment cancelled. Might be worth spending a few days in an air BnB etc in the targeted area so that you know what streets you would consider and ones you wouldn’t. If you’ve done all your research and got to grips with the target area on foot you will find it easy to make a decision. Also the new renters rights legislation will be in their favour as they can give 2 months notice I think after a month - so not trapped anywhere grim for a year.

Monton is very nice, it’s got a “large village” feel with a pleasant little high street containing coffee shops/restaurants/little bars. There’s a train station up the road with trains into Victoria station.

Thank you all.

This sounds like a nightmare. I think they must be living in cloud cuckoo land and will be set for disappointment by what has been said especially as one is away with work and the other is currently still living two hours away from the Manchester area. From your list how would you rank them in order of priority based on what they have said they want.

AI has come up with this list.

1. Urmston — best value
2. Sale / Monton — mid‑range
3. Altrincham — higher
4. Didsbury — one of the most expensive suburbs

What does the mumsnet massive think?

Dd lives in Castlefield and loves it but parking would be a total nightmare and I can’t imagine many rentals would come with parking. There’s a lot to be said for leaving the cars at home and using public transport which is excellent in Manchester. No idea what the Manchester to Warrington commute would be like though. But living in the centre of a big city when you’re young is fun.

I just looked. It’s 13 mins on the train from Manchester oxford rd to birchwood station. Honestly I’d live in the centre and take the train.

Thats good timing wise it’s just the parking that would be an issue. My daughter needs a car for work visits quite often and to see friends and the other girl often goes fell walking and needs a car to visit home which she couldn’t do on a train.

I thought the person with a base in Birchwood also needed to visit customers so would be driving?

The person living in Birchwood does need a car to visit customers for work (but not every day).

I wouldnt say urmston is best value, it's ridiculously expensive to rent or buy, some cracking bars and restaurants though

Then I’d look at Salford Quays I guess If you put that in right move and within half a mile you’d be on the right side of Manchester. You can filter for parking

this is in castlefield with one parking space

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/174283733#/?channel=RES_LET

julie twist is a popular letting agency/estate agent.

Eccles?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/172008689#/?channel=RES_LET

This looks like a good call. Much better to be near social life at that age than out in suburban family areas. They will have a great time in the city centre. Very well done for securing jobs in this hideous market. That rental price is good - my new grad daughter was paying twice that in central London with only a fraction more salary - so they’ve done great on maximising disposable income which is what it’s all about at the end of the day.

Kelso Place, Manchester, M15 2 bed flat to rent - £1,350 pcm (£312 pw) https://share.google/Am24h7tMVfCk6xXke

Yes, Castlefield is a great area.

Stockport great for getting into Manchester on the train - 8 min journey and trains every 5 minutes, and close to M56 to get to Birchwood.

Good for independent bars and places to eat

Monton is nice but not the best for city centre commute as far as I'm aware.
What about Stockport? If you're close to town centre 10 mins on train to Manchester, good access to m60, lots of regeneration going on with plenty of new apartments. Some cool bars and restaurants and just a bit more personality than the likes of didsbury.

Yes this sounds about right but it's all relative as nothing in Manchester is cheap anymore!

I'd look at Salford Quays too. Lots of two bed + two bathroom flats that are ideal for sharing. DD has been there for the past year whilst on her industry placement. Tram links are really good and the flat has two parking spaces. DD loves it and will be sorry to leave.

I can’t emphasise enough how ghastly the traffic is here at peak times and the person with the car should be doing what she can to minimise sitting in her car. Unless I’m misunderstanding, she has to use a car for her work so the train journey wouldn’t work?

So I would be looking firstly in Stockport, then Cheadle, then Levenshulme.