The region, which consists of Liverpool, Manchester and a largely rural northern area, including Cumbria and north Lancashire, remains one of the cheapest places in Britain despite years of high price rises, including a 9.1% increase in the past 12 months.

Figures from the website Rightmove show that average prices in the region fell by 0.5% in the month to mid-May, due in part to a glut of new-build flats in the main cities, most of which have been bought by buy-to-let investors. Knight Frank says that asking prices for some flats in Manchester that have been lingering on the market for some time have been reduced by between 10% and 20%.

Yet Manchester continues to produce a string of innovative regeneration projects, including Urban Splash’s Chimney Pot Park of renovated terraced houses in Salford, the Mediacity scheme, where the BBC’s 1,500 relocated staff will work, and the continuing transformation of Ancoats, an old textile area, into a modern, fashionable urban village.

In Cheshire – footballer’s wives territory, where mock-Tudor detached five-bedroom houses with grounds routinely fetch more than £1.5m – the market remains good, but appears to be on the turn. “The number of sales is relatively static,” says Ian Macklin, who runs an agency in Hale. “A number of offers are at levels unacceptable to sellers, and negotiations are becoming protracted.”

The market in smaller towns and rural areas remains strong, but is slowing. “Rises in interest rates, and the likelihood of further increases, have made buyers more wary,” says Richard Powell of Ryder & Dutton in Oldham, Lancashire.

Average property price: £135,062

Annual change: 9.1%

Predictions: Knight Frank expects average prices in the region to rise 3% this year. Most analysts say that areas on the fringes of Manchester and Liverpool will perform better than the city centres

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