Insight – where are the top locations for high rent...

Research by Sequre Property Investment has revealed which cities are seeing the largest level of high yield rental homes.

The buy-to-let (BTL) specialist analysed current market stock looking at the level of high yield investment opportunities available across 18 major cities across the nation.

High yield hotspots

Nottingham is the nation’s high yield investment hotspot, accounting for 21% of all property investment opportunities currently on the market.

Cardiff ranks second, accounting for 16% of all high yield investment opportunities, with Newcastle (14%) and Southampton (11%) also offering an abundance of high yield investment options.

Highest yields by property type

When it comes to the split of high yield investment opportunities by property type, flats are a clear winner across the majority of cities.

This property type accounts for the highest proportion of high yield rental stock across eight of the major cities, although this dominance does range from 94% of the high yield market in Bristol to 31% in Nottingham.

In Liverpool, Manchester and Swansea, terraced homes account for the largest proportion of high yield market share, while in Birmingham it’s semi-detached homes and in Bournemouth, detached homes rank top.

Daniel Jackson, sales director at Sequre Property Investment, comments: “You’d be forgiven for thinking that a high return buy-to-let investment has become a thing of the past and in some cities across the nation, you wouldn’t be far off the truth.”

“However, above-average returns can be secured if you know where to invest and what to invest in and so utilising expert guidance and market knowledge is key in the early stages when looking to build a successful property portfolio.”

Jackson says knowing what kind of return a given location will bring is a start, but it’s also crucial to break the market down further and look at which property type performs best, as well as the cost of investment.

“The market itself is incredibly diverse and so a far more strategic approach is required if you want to make a sound investment,” he concludes.

Table shows the proportion of high yield investment opportunities in each city, how these are broken down when looking at property type and the average cost of investment
Location	Average price - high yielders	Proportion of all high yield investment properties (all locations)	Flat %	Terraced %	Semi %	Detached %
Nottingham	£201,013	21%	31%	18%	27%	24%
Cardiff	£198,284	16%	54%	29%	8%	8%
Newcastle	£172,888	14%	64%	17%	13%	5%
Southampton	£210,645	11%	66%	16%	12%	7%
Leeds	£204,385	8%	51%	27%	15%	8%
Liverpool	£161,918	6%	14%	56%	25%	5%
Glasgow	£125,858	6%	87%	5%	3%	5%
Birmingham	£264,032	5%	15%	34%	40%	10%
Bournemouth	£315,722	4%	29%	5%	14%	51%
Manchester	£215,065	4%	37%	44%	16%	3%
Swansea	£143,214	3%	33%	43%	18%	6%
Bristol	£328,775	2%	94%	4%	0%	1%
Bradford	£93,445	1%	86%	0%	3%	11%
London	x		x	x	x	x
Sheffield	x		x	x	x	x
Portsmouth	x		x	x	x	x
Plymouth	x		x	x	x	x
Edinburgh	x		x	x	x	x
Data sourced from PropertyData and based on a sample of 4,364 high yield property investment opportunities across all cities