The rental market continues to recover. Some areas appear to be doing very well according to the Belvoir Lettings Index which shows quarterly increases of 7% in and around the London area and over 3% in the South East. Areas which are still struggling appear to be the North East, East Anglia and the West Midlands.
However, good quality properties in good locations which are well presented to appear to be letting well. If you are thinking of investing in Buy to Let howvever, make sure you go to a lettings specialist like Belvoir first as they will ensure you know what properties are required and be realistic about the rental potential. This is unlike many property investment clubs that charge thousands of pounds for sourcing properties, don't deliver, don't give you your money back and worst still, then go bust, taking your hard earned cash with them!
Belvoir offices that help source properties for investors charge a fraction of the price of property investment sourcing clubs and only really care about securing the property for management, so are much more impartial. NEVER buy a property for buy to let without checking the rental income with a company that specialises in renting properties and is compromised as they earn money from selling properties too.
Regional Differences
As always with property, 'UK averages' rarely help you understand what's actually happening in your area. And the FindaProperty Index shows this to be true with:-
Top Performing Areas
North East England Rental Income -0.2% yoy, average of £607 per month giving a 4.78% average yield
South East Rental Income -2.2% yoy, +1.7% month on month and an average of £1,108 per month giving a 4.82% average yield
Poor Performing Areas
North West England Rental Income - 9.6% yoy, average of £601 per month giving a 4.5% average yield
West Midlands Rental Income - 5.3% yoy, average of £626 per month giving a 4.2% average yield
Belvoir Lettings Regional Lettings Index
Belvoir is one of the top franchised letting agents in the UK and takes pride in ensuring they let quality properties legally and at fair prices. They have over 140 offices across the UK and kindly let us have access to their national and regional lettings index:-
The following figures show the South East has been quick to recover from rental falls and that London's rental market has turned a corner. Most areas bar the North East and East Anglia (suffering from outmigration) are still taking a while to recover.
Belvoir Region | Jul 08
to Sep 08 | Oct 08
to Dec 09 | Jan 09
to Mar 09 | Apr 09
to Jun 09 | July 09
to Sep 09 |
London | -2% | -2.4% | -1.75% | -5.51% | +7.48% |
South East | 6.9% | -2.8% | -4% | +1% | +3.25% |
South West | -1.4% | -1.0% | -3.6% | -1% | +0.57% |
West Midlands | 0.6% | -0.8% | +4% | -2.55% | -2.36% |
East Midlands | 1.6% | -2.6% | -2% | -3.32% | -0.01% |
East Anglia | -1.9% | -1.0% | +2% | -3.98% | -2.29% |
Yorkshire | 2.9% | 1.9% | +2.9% | -3.57% | -1.20% |
North West | 1% | -0.5% | -2.7% | -3.05% | +0.45% |
North East | 0% | 0% | -0.75% | -1% | -3.89% |
Scotland | 17% | -3.8% | -0.4% | -1.36% | -1.39% |
Whole of UK | 0% | -1.4% | -1.95% | -1.5% | 0% |
