Best rental yields for buy to let landlords are in north east of England

In the north west of England Blackburn has been named the top area for greatest rental yield growth for residential landlords in the UK, followed by Carlisle, also in the north west of the country.

Average rental yields in the town increased from 4.13% to 5.69%, an increase of 37.8% and it is also the cheapest location in the top 10 with an average price of £95,000, according to the latest buy to let index from online mortgage lender LendInvest.

The index looks at postcode areas in England and Wales and ranks them according to how much average rental yields increased over the 12 months between August 2015 and July 2016.

In second place Carlisle has seen rental yields rise by 36.5% to 4.73%, with Gloucester taking third spot with a 19.4% rise in average rental yields to 4.07%. Next is Halifax, then Cardiff, Oldham, Lincoln, Cleveland, Oxford and Blackpool.

At the opposite end Durham has seen average rental yields fall the year from 7.09% to 4.67%, a fall of 34.2%, followed by Chester and Croydon with falls of 30.4% and 28.8% respectively to 4.76% and 3.57%.

The other biggest falls were in Stevenage, Tunbridge Wells, Leeds, Slough, Hereford, Bath and north west London with falls of 27.7%, 26.2%, 21.9%, 21.5%, 21.4%, 18.9% and 18.7% respectively.

‘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,’ said Christian Faes, chief executive officer of LendInvest.

‘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 rail line, or those which are due to benefit from new infrastructure projects, which will bring additional employment into the region,’ he added.