Trafford is often overlooked in favour of its larger neighbour Manchester when it comes to development and regeneration news. In this report we will right that wrong and look at what is currently going on and what is planned for the future.
Trafford sits just to the west of the city of Manchester itself and is one of the nine boroughs of Greater Manchester. The eastern part closest to Manchester is focussed on the large Trafford Park business park and is largely industrial and commercial. The western part is more residential and stretches out towards rural Cheshire.
Trafford doesn’t have a single town centre, but has several including Stretford, Urmston, Sale and Altrincham. The area has particularly good transport connections, being on the Metrolink tram network, on the M60 and M56, and close to Manchester Airport.
Trafford Park is a key employment hotspot with around 1,300 businesses employing 35,000 people. The area is also the location of the Trafford Centre retail mall, one of the country’s largest retail destinations with 2.2.m sq.ft. of space and an annual footfall of 30m, and Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium. Close by, but not in the district itself, is the Salford Quays commercial and residential district which was regenerated 20+ years ago and Media City.
On prices and rents, Trafford has the distinction of being the highest property price location in Greater Manchester. However, this is influenced somewhat due to the area being home to some of north west England’s most expensive residential areas. The current average price here is £377,739 with prices rising just 0.4% over the last year (UK HPI figures). This compares with the annual north west England property price of £212,648 (3.5% annual rise) and the average UK price of £292,000 (1.4% annual rise). The average monthly private rent in Trafford was £1,340 in November 2025, an annual rise of 4% (ONS data). Average rents per property type are: One bedroom: £923pm. Two bedroom: £1,175pm. Three bedroom: £1,447pm. Four or more bedrooms: £2,077pm.
Now let us move on and look at some key schemes here. Trafford Wharfside, also known as the Old Trafford Regeneration, is in its early days but could turn out to be one of the UK’s largest regeneration schemes. It covers a 150 ha site in the north of the district and closest to Manchester itself. The former docklands area is mostly industrial in nature and was last regenerated in the 1980s/90s.
