London Property Investment or Manchester Property Investment

I originally had this discussion with my wife where to invest in property…Should we invest in property in London or should we invest in property in Manchester? There was much discussion. In London yields were rather low yet prices seemed to keep on going up. In Manchester the yields were rather high especially with HMOs  from a low side of 12% Net up to 20% Gross on some professional HMOS yet several years ago prices were not increasing. Today in Manchester prices are shifting upwards on property in better areas such as Salford and Eccles. Sometimes at viewings you can have 40 property investors. Prices are paid over the asking price even.

I see in Manchester investors from Saudi Arabia to China. They are all seeking yields. Now, it is rather funny. Yields are starting to compress in Manchester and prices are rising. It makes myself and my JV partners more patient in keeping properties.

Contrarily I read in Bloomberg today an article regarding London Property…

London Homeowners Are Desperately Slashing Prices

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-01/these-are-the-places-in-london-where-house-prices-are-falling

I would think people who bought after the property crisis in London made a killing. The question is can prices in Manchester catch up to some degree? Manchester has alot going for it….Housing shortage…HS2 ( High speed train direct to London) …Media City with the BBC?

It would be nice to have a crystal ball when we invest in property…

Thoughts?