New data from AI-powered property investment portal oneandonlypro.com has revealed that the North of England is the best place to nab a buy-to-let bargain in 2020.

Bootle, a town in Merseyside which sits just north of Liverpool, tops this year’s table with the greatest concentration of Diamond properties, up two places from this time last year when it finished joint third with near neighbour Birkenhead.

The analysis ranked the top buy-to-let locations using One & Only Pro’s unique algorithm, with investment properties across England and Wales given a score from one to ten. Properties rated ‘ten’ are the most likely to increase in value.

Dubbed the ‘Diamond Property Hotspots’, the five locations with the highest concentration of top scoring properties are all situated in the North of England. 

While last year’s top spot was held by Salford, the North West city – famous for Lowry and MediaCityUK – experienced a significant dip to 47th place in this year’s report. Grimsby and Hartlepool, meanwhile, both made the top five for the first time in third and fourth place respectively, whilst Burnley held on to second place.

You can see the full list including average house prices here.

Home to 26% of ‘Diamond’ properties, Bootle’s average property price of £57,559 also makes it an affordable option for first-time investors, while its closeness to Liverpool – one of the UK’s most vibrant and exciting cities – further increases its appeal.

Henri Sant-Cassia, One & Only Pro’s chief executive, said: “It is great to see the predictions we made last year have been borne out – the North has remained strong and the Central London market had, as we predicted, bottomed out price-wise and is now seeing an upturn. The top five Diamond Property Hotpots this year all offer great value, even for first-time investors, in terms of average house prices. Investors could easily overlook towns like Grimsby or Burnley which offer fantastic value in comparison to the big cities.”

Sant-Cassia said it was important to note that ‘our data isn’t simply an analysis of last year’s trend – our system algorithm analyses and studies future trends and also factors in changes in bank lending and fiscal policy for example which could influence the property market during the following year’.

He adds that, despite the general doom and gloom, especially around Brexit, the market in 2019 actually remained quite robust – as One & Only Pro had predicted. 

“The trend for the government to continue to legislate against the rental sector and increase taxes for smaller landlords is likely to continue in 2020,” Sant-Cassia said. “As interest rates are likely to stay low, rental profit will be high for landlords so we predict a positive year ahead for property investors on that front. We should also continue to see banks relaxing their criteria so landlords and property investors will be able to borrow more money and with easier stress testing.” 

One & Only Pro only lists properties considered to be viable for investment, which means shared ownership, retirement and other unsuitable property types are stripped out. 

It claims that everything listed has been pre-vetted for investment, ‘unlike a typical property portal where the whole market is on show’.