City performed strongly with fastest rental growth

Newcastle upon Tyne, Glasgow and Liverpool have been hailed as Britain’s top three property investment locations heading into 2027, according to new analysis. Meanwhile, Greater London languishes 28th out of 30 in the new index.

The Beyond Stays Property Investor Index 2026/27 used eight weighted measures to analyse 30 major investment locations across England, Wales and Scotland. These included rental returns, acquisition affordability, rental-market conditions, demographic and employment growth, house-price momentum and regeneration and infrastructure delivery.

Newcastle scored 79.47 out of 100, followed by Glasgow (73.91), Liverpool (73.13) and, in fourth place, Manchester (71.85).

Hull, Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield, Birmingham and Coventry also featured in the national top ten.  

Fastest rental growth and tightest market

Newcastle performed strongly across several measures. Average rents in the city increased by 9.9% over the year, the fastest rental growth recorded among the 30 locations analysed. It also had the tightest rental market in the study, with unlet rental properties listed for a median of just 38 days. It also boasted indicative gross rental yield of 6.99%, five-year population growth of 7.92% and positive recent house-price momentum.

By contrast, Greater London recorded the highest average monthly rent among the locations analysed and received a maximum 10 out of 10 Regeneration & Infrastructure Delivery Score, but its average property price of £544,814, negative recent house-price momentum and comparatively slower population growth pulled it down to 28^th place.

Aberdeen recorded the second-highest indicative gross rental yield in the study at 7.57% but finished only 19th overall once weaker house-price and employment performance were taken into account. Exeter had the fastest five-year population growth of any location analysed at 9.57% but ranked 26th overall.

Hull had the lowest average property price in the study at £133,485, yet finished fifth overall after also recording an indicative gross rental yield of 6.20%, annual rental growth of 7.2% and positive recent house-price momentum.

Meanwhile, Manchester had an average property price of £247,469, considerably higher than Hull’s, but placed fourth thanks to 8.01% five-year population growth, a 6.59% indicative gross yield, relatively tight rental conditions and a maximum 10 out of 10 regeneration and infrastructure score.

Matt Thompson, founder of Beyond Stays Group, said the index offered a more comprehensive view of opportunities.

“Every few months another table comes out telling landlords where to buy, and almost all of them rank on one number. That’s not how you build a portfolio you can hold for ten years. We built this index specifically to be harder to win, because the cities that top a single measure are very often the ones you’d regret buying into. Newcastle didn’t win by leading everything: it won by not being weak anywhere that matters.”