Demand and Prospects information

The Housing Register

There is currently an extremely high demand for social housing in Manchester with over 21,000 live applications on the Manchester Housing Register.

*Please see below for the number of households on the Manchester Housing Register, by their band and the size of property that they need:

Infornation correct as at December 2025

Lettings Results

For 1-bed properties, waiting times can vary depending on your age; the wait for flats with a high age restriction is shorter than that for properties without an age restriction. There are long waiting times in Band 2 for a 1 bed flat.

No family homes were let to applicants outside of Band 1 and Band 2.

Waiting times for adapted homes may be longer than average due to high demand.

Average waiting times for applicants in Band 2 with a 2023-2026 award date for 1 bed general needs homes will be more than 5 years. 

Average waiting times for applicants in Band 2 with a 2023 to 2026 award date for 2 and 3 bed family homes will be more than 5 years and may be as high as 8 years. 

Average waiting times for applicants in Band 2 with an award date after 2020 for 4 bed and larger family homes will be well in excess of 8 years and may be as high as 15-20 years for those that have recently been placed in this band. 

Applicants in Band 3 and Band 4

There may be options available in some areas of the City for applicants in Bands 3 and 4 for non-family homes with a 50+ age restriction. Please check your Manchester Move account for available homes.

There may be limited options in North Manchester for applicants who are over 40 in Bands 3 and 4, who require a 2-bed flat. An affordability check will be required. Please check your Manchester Move account for available homes.

It is difficult to give exact information on how long you will wait for a home, but see below for recent lettings results:

*Based on home let between April 2025 and September 2025

Please note that these are average waiting times for households that have recently been successful; future waiting times are dependent on turnover of homes. Waiting times may be much longer in higher demand areas.