Winners and losers in lockdown property prices
More than 70% rise in some areas of Greater Manchester, while others fall
manchestereveningnews.co.uk
THE property market has thrived in the last year.
Estate agents closed for seven weeks during the first lockdown, but have remained open through the second and third, with a stamp duty holiday introduced to encourage the market.
And, with more time spent indoors than ever, people have had time to rethink their priorities in a home.
These factors could be why there has been a hike in demand in some areas of Greater Manchester.
In 2020, many postcodes in the region saw house prices surge, while other areas have seen house prices fall.
One postcode, covering the village of Dunham Massey saw property prices jump by nearly 90 per cent compared to 2019, while two postcodes in Old Trafford saw increases of more than 70 per cent in lockdown.
Meanwhile, one postcode in Oldham saw prices dip by 17 per cent, and postcodes covering West Gorton and Middleton saw prices drop by 11 per cent.
Here, the Manchester Evening News data unit has analysed the Land Registry’s price paid data.
They’ve put together a list of the Greater Manchester postcodes that saw the biggest price rises in 2020 - and the areas that have seen big drops.
The places in England and Wales with the biggest house prise rises have also been revealed.
A North Yorkshire postcode saw a rise of more than 170 per cent, while one in Leeds dropped by more than half.
The most expensive postcode in England and Wales with three or more sales was W1S, between Mayfair and Soho, in Westminster, where seven sales in 2020 had an average price of £3.1 million.
The postcode with the lowest average price was DL17, in Durham, at £45,000.
IT’S almost impossible to walk through Manchester’s city centre without coming across incredible street art.
Artists have used the medium for years as a way for them to express themselves, but it’s also increasingly become a way of memorialising significant events.
The last twelve months have seen a whirlwind of news stories, with the global pandemic and social justice at the forefront of the agenda.
And these topics have all been paid homage to by the city’s street artists.
These are some of the highlights of Manchester’s street art over the last year and a bit.
Caroline Flack
Popular TV presenter Caroline Flack sadly took her own life in midFebruary 2020 and her death shocked the nation.
A year later, a Wigan artist spray painted a huge mural of the star onto the side of a building in his home town of Ashton-in-Makerfield.
He finished the piece on February 14, nearly a year to the day that 40-year-old Caroline was found dead at her home in London.
Melanie Senior
A simple yet poignant tribute to our health workers was painted in Manchester’s Northern Quarter in October 2020.
Artist Peter Barber worked on the city centre mural, depicting lead nurse Melanie Senior.
It was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, and based on a photograph by Johannah Churchill. The artwork, painted on the corner of High Street and Thomas Street has received widespread acclaim from fellow nurses.
‘Thank you key workers’
The mural on the front of Tib Street Tavern was one of many that sprang up across the city, celebrating people working on the frontline during the pandemic.
Located in the Northern Quarter, this art was painted in April 2020 during the height of the first wave of Covid-19, and the first lockdown, when many windows were daubed with thank-yous to those still going into work every day to keep the country running.
George Floyd
Another event that shook the world in 2020 was the death of George Floyd manchestereveningnews.co.uk at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
Mr Floyd, an unarmed black man, was filmed gasping and saying ‘I can’t breathe’ as a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in May last year.
He passed away at the scene, leading to protests in cities across the globe. It reignited the Black Lives Matter campaign, and demonstrations were held across Greater Manchester.
Street artist Akse created the tribute in Stevenson Square in the weeks that followed his death. The mural has since been vandalised numerous times, including as recently as 26 February when it was daubed with graffiti featuring a racist slur.
Marcus Rashford
Another piece of art by Akse is this powerful mural of Marcus Rashford in south Manchester.
It is painted on the wall of the Coffee House Café on Copson Street, Withington, an area close to where Rashford lived with his family before moving to Wythenshawe.
Based on a photograph by Daniel Cheetham, the mural was created in collaboration with Withington Walls, a community project creating public art works.
It was created to recognise the work the football star has done for disadvantaged families, after his campaign to extend free school meal vouchers into the school holidays.
After the mural was originally created, Rashford tweeted a photo of it thanking Akse for the work.
“Ok I usually get embarrassed sharing these things because this journey was never really about me,” he tweeted. “But I know this took a lot of time and effort @Akse_P19 and I wanted to say thank you.”
Unfortunately, this piece was also vandalised in December 2020, but was soon fixed up.
Ian Curtis
This stunning mural of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis was painted on a building in Port Street, again by street artist Akse.
It was based on a photo of Curtis performing in Brussels in 1979, taken by acclaimed Belgian photographer Philippe Carly.
The artwork was created to mark the start of Manchester music and mental wellbeing festival Headstock.
Created in October 2020, it came months after an online event marking the 40th anniversary of Curtis’s suicide at the age of 23.
‘Death to 2020’
The ‘Death to 2020’ mural in Piccadilly Gardens depicted a burning planet populated by all the major news stories of 2020.
From the Black Lives Matter movement to the US presidential election to Covid-19, ‘Death to 2020’ captured it all in one collage.
Appearing at the bottom of Lever Street, the piece came from famed artist and satirist Cold War Steve.
Denise Johnson
Yet another piece by Akse, this touching tribute to the late Manchester singer Denise Johnson appeared in her hometown of Hulme.
The singer was famed for collaborations with Scottish rock band Primal Scream, and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr’s group Electronic, before passing away in July 2020.
The striking mural was painted on a wall at community arts centre NIAMOS, formerly the Hulme Playhouse.
Her family were said to have been ‘totally stunned into silence’ by the tribute.