5th
Jan 2020
Oxford has been 'crowned' as the top UK city for buy to let investment according to a specialist lender's BTL City Tracker.
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The trackers decision parameters were determined by five factors that affect desirability; best short term returns from yield, average total rent, long term return predictions based on previous ten years house price growth, lowest number of vacancies as a proportion of all rental housing stock and percentage of renters of the city's population.
Out of the 25 UK cities that were analysed Oxford came out on top, followed by Manchester and Edinburgh, London was fourth with Norwich making up the top 5.
The best region for BTL is the South East with three cities appearing in the top 10 cities - Oxford (1st), Brighton (9th), and Milton Keynes (10th).
However Yorkshire cities have two which feature in the bottom five ; Bradford (23rd) and Sheffield (22nd), Leeds is placed just above standing at 20th.
Out of the West Midland' cities both Birmingham and Coventry are performing well, but Wolverhampton props up the rest of the table at 25th.
As taken for granted, London has the highest average monthly rent and surprisingly Hull comes out on top of the best short term returns through yield. Cambridge is number one on the list for long term property price growth, Cardiff boasts the lowest number of vacant BTL properties, and as already mentioned Oxford has the highest percentage of population who are renting.
Oxford narrowly won the top spot through having large PRS investment and rapid growth as according to the City Tracker, with exceptionally good scores in four of the five key points. The city's main attraction for private landlords is that it has the largest percentage of private renters of all UK cities, with 28% of all residents are tenants.
When this is combined with an above average rental ability - £569 monthly room rent, far fewer than most cities of empty/vacant BTL properties, and long term security of the investment as historically property prices have increased year on year at an average of 4.8%, it is no wonder why the city came out on top.
The only drawback for Oxford is that its short term return from yield is amongst the lowest of the cities.
Damian Thompson, Director of Mortgages, of the buy-to-let lender, said: "Our Buy to Let City Tracker shows there are still great short and long-term investment opportunities for landlords. The number of people renting in the UK has been rapidly growing, up 1.7 million in ten years, so private landlords are an increasingly central part of the housing market as supporting a robust and strong Private Rented Sector becomes more essential."
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