Want good student rental yields? Pick towns with just one university…

Paragon Bank has revealed the locations where landlords letting to students can achieve the strongest yields - and they are typically smaller single university towns and cities. 

Analysing mortgage applications for properties located in popular student postcodes, Paragon found that landlords providing student accommodation in towns or cities with just one university typically achieve the highest yields.

Eight of the top 10 yielding university towns and cities only boasted one main university, extending to 14 when taking into account the top 20 yielding locations.

Derby topped the yield list, with landlords generating an average yield of 8.67 per cent in student postcodes. The city’s main establishment is the University of Derby, which had 21,285 students during the 2020/21 academic year, according to the latest data available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency. 

Pontypridd, home to a campus of the University of South Wales, was second on the list with a yield of 8.31 per cent. Here, the average property price was the lowest in the top 10, as well as the rental income, making it a cheaper option for landlords wishing to purchase property.  

Making up the list of the top three yielding student locations is Hull, another small city with one university. Purchasing property in Hull also requires a lower initial outlay, £172,429 on average, but landlords serving the University of Hull market also typically generate lower levels of average annual rental income, resulting in typical yields of 8.12 per cent. 

Looking at the top 10 locations for student yields reveals that only two – Liverpool and Coventry - have more than one main university. Other locations on the list included Salford, Lincoln, Worcester, Plymouth and Durham.

Richard Rowntree, mortgages managing director for Paragon, says: “Although major cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester often boast the largest student populations, they are not necessarily the best locations for generating yields in the student buy-to-let market. This is because such places are more likely to be home to purpose-built student accommodation and greater levels of competition, whereas smaller cities and towns have less competition from large-scale institutional investment. 

“Something else we often see when looking at the best yielding student locations is relatively affordable property – the top five locations for yield have property valued below the national average of £278,000. Another common trend the top 10 yielding locations share is that they have smaller private rented sectors serving the student market.”

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