Buy-to-Let investors opt for university towns
October 2, 2013Students help to prop up the housing market, as buy-to-let investors opted for university towns; research by My Home Move, the UK’s leading provider of mover conveyancing services, reveals.
Leicester, London, Leeds, Liverpool, Chelmsford, Bristol and Coventry have topped My Home Move’s Regional Buy-to-Let Index (2008-12), highlighting that towns with universities are proving the most popular with landlord investors, and have been for the past five years.
Leicester, with its two universities has led the way, outside of London, as the most popular place to invest in; while Liverpool has also benefitted from the demand in buy-to-let properties, as average prices have risen by 26% since 2008.
Doug Crawford, CEO of My Home Move, said, “The buy-to-let market has performed well in recent years, with gross lending up by 29% according to the Bank of England’s latest figures. Last year this market accounted for nearly 10% of My Home Move’s business, with investors opting for towns with academic traditions, over alternative locations.”
“Every town that tops our Index has one or more universities associated with it, meaning that in essence, students have helped to prop up the housing market for the last five years without even realising it. Student demand for rental properties has in turn created a steady stream of business for mortgage brokers, estate agents and conveyancers from buy-to-let investors, especially during these leaner times.”
My Home Move’s Regional Buy-to-Let index (2008 – 12):
| Region | City/Town (top location) | Average Buy-to-Let price 2008 | Average Buy-to-Let price 2012 | Average price variation 2008 – 2012 | |
| Greater London | London | 394 | £204,675 | £244,862 | +19.6% |
| East Midlands | Leicester | 286 | £108,373 | £107,476 | – 0.8% |
| West Midlands | Coventry | 139 | £111,785 | £105,134 | +6% |
| South East | Chelmsford | 121 | £146,285 | £140,833 | -3.7% |
| South West | Bristol | 55 | £131, 625 | £134,934 | +2.5% |
| North East | Leeds | 17 | £186,000 | £107,417 | -42.2% |
| North West | Liverpool | 35 | £61,250 | £77,167 | +26 % |
Continuing Doug said, “Collectively these towns accommodate around 20% of the UK’s student population – meaning that at the beginning of each academic year, over 200,000 students are looking to rent rooms for an average of £300 a month – so it’s not surprising that investors are looking to students, to help them make their money work for them.”
As the UK’s largest provider of mover conveyancing services, My Home Move is in a unique position to provide data on the UK housing market. In 2012 it helped almost 30,000 people to buy, sell or remortgage their homes. For more information on My Home Move, please visit http://www.myhomemove.com/