Buy-to-let hotspots unveiled

While buying property in London has proved to be a lucrative move for many buy-to-let landlords for capital gains in recent years, it is increasingly holding less appeal for those looking for generous rental returns. But where in the UK currently offers attractive rental yields?

LendInvest's latest buy-to-let Index looked at the areas which have seen the largest rise in rental yield over the last 12 months, and found that Blackburn is now the number one buy-to-let hotspot following a 37.8% rise in the average yield being achieved in the Lancashire town.

The research by LendInvest, which looked at where landlords are seeing the biggest returns on buy-to-let investments by analysing historical purchase prices from the Land Registry and current average rental prices on property website Zoopla, allowed the online lending and investment platform to identify the most profitable areas in the UK to be a landlord, with other buy-to-let ‘hotspots’ including Carlisle, Gloucester, Lincoln and Oxford.

Christian Faes, Co-Founder and CEO of LendInvest, said: “Savvy property investors won’t only look out for which areas will offer the best returns right now, but are considering the best growth for the months and years to come. That means spotting areas which will become more popular in the future. That may be due to improved transport links, for example those towns which are due to be on the new HS2 line, or those which are due to benefit from new infrastructure projects, which will bring additional employment into the region.”

LendInvest’s new Buy-to-Let Index also highlights the buy-to-let coldspots - those postcode areas which have seen average rental yields fall the most over the 12-month period between August 2015 and July 2016.