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The UK’s Buy-to-Let Hotspots

Rental demand is up across the UK’s major towns and cities, new research has revealed.

The latest data shows that demand for rental properties is up six per cent this quarter across the UK. Moreover, for the second quarter in a row, University city Bristol topped the table with 67.6 per cent of all rental properties actually let, an increase of 17.5 per cent on Q2.

The new research by lettings platform, Bunk, looked at rental listings across all of the major property portals, taking an average demand score for the nation’s major cities based on where had the highest number of properties let as a percentage of all rental listings.

 

University Towns Rule

Another university city Nottingham ranked second with demand for rental stock at 54.3 per cent, this was followed by Cambridge with a demand score of 50 per cent, which marginally pipped Bournemouth (42.9 per cent) and Portsmouth (42.8 per cent) in the rankings. These five towns and cities also accounted for the largest increases in tenant demand since Q2, with increases of between 11.2 per cent and 18.7 per cent.

At the bottom of the table, Aberdeen ranked the least in-demand city for rental demand at 8.9 per cent, while Edinburgh (14.8 per cent) and Newcastle (16.5 per cent) was slightly more popular.

 

London

The research found that London rental demand had risen 8.2 per cent since the second quarter of 2019 with Lewisham topping the table as the most in-demand London borough at 48.4 per cent. Bromley (46.2 per cent), Bexley (43.7 per cent), Havering (43.7 per cent) and Islington (43.3 per cent) were also amongst the most in-demand boroughs for tenant demand in Q3.

Islington also saw the largest uplift in rental demand quarter to quarter, up 17 per cent, while Sutton was the only London borough to see a drop since Q2 of -0.7 per cent.

Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Camden were the London boroughs home to the lowest level of current tenant demand at 13.4 per cent, 15.4 per cent, and 22.3 per cent respectively.

Co-founder of Bunk, Tom Woollard, commented: We continue to see the UK rental sector acting as the backbone of the property market with demand for rental properties climbing yet again.  

With the start of the university term, it’s no surprise that some of the UK’s most prominent university towns have seen some of the largest uplifts in rental demand as thousands of students look to secure a place to live while studying. 

For buy-to-let landlords, it remains one of the most prominent factors when deciding where to invest in a property and it’s clear why. While you can have the best yields around, they’re not worth a penny without the tenant demand to fill a property and this demand is abundant around the likes of Bristol, Notts, Cambridge, and Bournemouth.” 

 

Q2 Q3 Change
UK Towns & Cities 25.2% 31.2% 6.0%
London 21.4% 29.6% 8.2%
Major UK Towns & Cities Ranked by Quarterly Demand Change
City Q2 Q3 Change
Nottingham 35.6% 54.3% 18.7%
Bristol 50.1% 67.6% 17.5%
Cambridge 33.5% 50.0% 16.4%
Bournemouth 30.3% 42.9% 12.6%
Portsmouth 31.6% 42.8% 11.2%
Glasgow 25.4% 35.1% 9.7%
Leeds 15.5% 24.1% 8.6%
London 21.4% 29.6% 8.2%
Manchester 26.4% 32.7% 6.3%
Birmingham 23.1% 28.9% 5.9%
Southampton 24.0% 29.6% 5.6%
Liverpool 18.3% 22.9% 4.6%
Leicester 24.7% 29.1% 4.4%
Newcastle 13.9% 16.5% 2.6%
Plymouth 34.5% 36.4% 1.9%
Swansea 16.3% 17.9% 1.6%
Sheffield 22.0% 23.5% 1.5%
Newport 38.7% 40.1% 1.5%
Aberdeen 8.0% 8.9% 0.9%
Edinburgh 14.3% 14.8% 0.5%
Oxford 29.0% 28.8% -0.3%
Belfast 21.2% 20.9% -0.3%
Cardiff 21.1% 19.7% -1.3%
London Boroughs Ranked by Quarterly Demand Change
London Borough Q2 Q3 Change
Islington 26.3% 43.3% 17.0%
Lambeth 26.2% 41.7% 15.5%
Hackney 27.3% 41.4% 14.1%
Tower Hamlets 24.1% 36.3% 12.2%
Southwark 30.9% 41.5% 10.6%
Haringey 30.3% 40.2% 9.9%
Newham 28.1% 36.8% 8.7%
Enfield 27.1% 35.5% 8.4%
Barnet 19.8% 28.1% 8.3%
Greenwich 32.9% 41.0% 8.1%
City of London 21.1% 28.9% 7.8%
Brent 19.8% 26.7% 6.9%
Hammersmith and Fulham 17.4% 24.2% 6.8%
Wandsworth 29.6% 35.9% 6.3%
Westminster 9.7% 15.4% 5.7%
Lewisham 43.0% 48.4% 5.4%
Hillingdon 27.7% 32.5% 4.8%
Camden 17.9% 22.3% 4.4%
Kensington and Chelsea 9.1% 13.4% 4.3%
Bromley 42.0% 46.2% 4.1%
Bexley 40.1% 43.7% 3.6%
Ealing 21.2% 24.5% 3.3%
Harrow 22.9% 25.7% 2.7%
Merton 37.3% 39.9% 2.6%
Barking and Dagenham 31.2% 33.1% 1.9%
Croydon 36.1% 37.9% 1.8%
Richmond upon Thames 28.1% 29.6% 1.5%
Waltham Forest 38.7% 40.0% 1.3%
Hounslow 25.6% 26.8% 1.2%
Redbridge 31.0% 32.2% 1.1%
Kingston upon Thames 30.7% 31.8% 1.1%
Havering 43.2% 43.7% 0.5%
Sutton 42.5% 41.8% -0.7%

 

 

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Alex Wright, Editor