Buy-to-let investors are increasingly turning their sights on the north of England in the quest for better deals and yields.
In 2015, just four of the 10 top local authorities for landlord purchases were in the north, but by last year, all ten were, according to data from Hamptons.
It found that Sunderland properties produced the highest yield (8.9%) where more than a third (36%) were sold to investors last year, up 27 percentage points from 9% the previous year. This made the city the sixth most popular place for investors in 2022.
Middlesborough, Gateshead and Newcastle were most favoured by landlords last year, with Gateshead particularly seeing a big annual rise in the proportion of BTL investors, from 27% to 50%.
Scarborough, Liverpool, Redcar and Cleveland, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Blackpool and North Tyneside complete the top ten.
Since 2015, gains have been largely at the expense of sales in the south, says Hamptons, where landlords have struck fewer deals.
Only 10% of sales in London were made by landlords (-6.7%) and 8.9% in the South East (-6.1%) last year compared with seven years ago. Overall, landlord purchases as a proportion of all sales have dropped 3.5% in that time to 12.2%.
Most, if not all, of the drop-off in sales to landlords was across the south of the country. Further north, sales to landlords are broadly flat, supported by both higher yields and by attracting some of the investor purchases which would otherwise have been made further south.
Many landlords have been priced out of the region, particularly if they need a mortgage, and Hamptons believes buy-to-let could become increasingly concentrated in a smaller number of areas as a result.
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