Nearly two million people passed through Manchester airport last month as passenger numbers grew by four per cent in March compared with the same month last year to confirm Manchester’s position as the UK’s third busiest airport and boosting regional growth.

March 2018 saw 1,988,233 passengers use the airport’s three terminals. That means 27,882,845 passengers have flown in and out of the airport during the last financial year – a 6.4% increase on full year 2016/17. Numbers are set to rise further this Summer, with the the introduction of new routes opening to Seattle with Thomas Cook Airlines, Florence with BA CityFlyer and Cagliari, Palermo and Ponta Delgada with Ryanair.

It’s a busy time at the airport as construction also gathers pace on the £1bn transformation and upgrade programme by a 700 people workforce which will see Terminal 2 more than double in size and includes building a new multi-storey car park and a new terminal link which should be in place for next year.

Manchester Airport is already one of the largest centres of employment in the North West with more than 22,000 people directly employed on site, supporting a further 48,000 jobs in the region. The airport is now looking to offer a further 600 job opportunities during the busy Summer months. As well as roles with Manchester Airport other major employers on site are also recruiting including Swissport, Boots,Thomas Cook Airlines and Jet2.com offering positions from pilots through to retail assistants.

Manchester’s long-haul catchment area places around 22 million people and 60% of all UK businesses within a two-hour drive time. With a booming local economy and increasing job prospects its no wonder that more people are looking to call Manchester “home”. This population growth in turn is creating a huge demand for new homes and is having a knock on effect. Construction activity in the North West has risen by 31% since 2016, according to a report by Turner & Townsend, making the region the UK’s fastest-growing market. Already construction output in the region was up by 30.7% in the first quarter of the year, compared with the second quarter of 2016, with activity growing ahead of the West Midlands at 27.8% and the South West at 27.2%.

This all makes positive reading for North West buy-to-let investors who are expected to see the best returns nationally for 2018. The upward trend of house prices and rents looks set to continue with JLL predicting that capital values in Manchester are set to rise by a further 6.5% in 2018 whilst rents will increase by 3.5%.

Whether you are an existing investor looking to add to your portfolio or simply looking to boost your future pension provision, its certainly time to look more closely at the buy-to-let opportunities that Manchester offers. See current opportunities.