The North East has overtaken the North West as the best location in the UK for residential property investment. 

That’s the view of online data platform Property Forecaster. 

It says Washington in Tyne and Wear tops its latest investment league table; Hartlepool, Sunderland and Newcastle also feature in the top ten – ranked fourth, fifth and tenth respectively.  

Last year’s leader Bootle drops to second place on the list and locations from the Midlands and East of England push in to the top 10 – Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire sits in seventh place and Grimsby in Lincolnshire places ninth.

The forecast ranks the top buy to let locations using Property Forecaster’s unique algorithm – investment properties across England and Wales are given a score from one to 10, with properties rated ‘10’ being dubbed ‘Diamonds’ by the platform.

Property Forecaster also ranks locations by potential yields – Washington maintains top spot here too with an average 7.9 per cent yield.

Platform spokesman Akhtar Hussain says: “Our data now clearly shows a number of locations in the North East are demonstrating strong promise, both in terms of future gains and the highest yields. 

“With average Diamond property prices in Washington, Hartlepool and Sunderland of between £48,000 and £53,000, the North East can’t be beaten for value and offers a very accessible investment opportunity with great future potential.

“In terms of the UK wide picture there is still underlying strength in the market despite the reinstatement of stamp duty and the pending closure of the furlough scheme.  

“Although there may be a slowdown in the next couple of months due to seasonality, the next 12 months will remain strong overall. The government has done a fantastic job of preventing a possible housing crash with assistance from the Bank of England reducing interest rates to a record low. 

“Our previous predictions that prices would increase in spite of the pandemic, and that Brexit wouldn’t cause a crash in the housing market have been borne out.  As the economy recovers over the coming months 2022 continues to look positive for investors”.