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Why Leeds Property Rental Market is Booming?

  • Posted:  7 years ago
  • Categories:  Leeds
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Ever since Margaret Thatcher openly stated her trust in a landowning democracy and presented the Right to Buy in 1980, the United Kingdom has been transformed into a country that perceives houses as something to make money from, not just something to live in. The new buying to let boom rental market has fed into the stereotype that the British are obsessed with property. The number one highest yielding area within the United Kingdom is Leeds. The Leeds rental market is successful for a number of reasons including its commuter catchment, universities, and public funding.

Reasons as to why the rental properties in Leeds is so very fast-growing:

Commuter Catchment

Most major cities of the UK are the centers of employment and economic growth. The locations within these commuter zones are often considered perfect investment sectors. The United Kingdom’s most important cities have the highest tenant numbers, and this includes Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. Leeds is a beautiful place that people love to visit.

Universities

Another reason why the rental market in Leeds is so prosperous,and Leeds is a place that people often visit, is because there is a total of three universities in the city. Leeds University, Leeds Beckett University and Leeds Trinity University are all located in Leeds, and they jointly host a total of 65,000 university students. These graduating young professionals are one of the big reasons the rental market in Leeds is thriving. With the typical age of a first-time buyer now being 33, when just 20 years ago it was 30, the request for rental properties is largest among’st beginning professionals in Leeds.

Public Projects

One cause of the rise in the Leeds rental market is that noteworthy public funding has been assured to initiate investment and employment within growth areas such as the Northern Powerhouse, where Leeds is located; this means that these areas will soon have an even higher housing demand. New employment and housing will help fuel the demand for Leeds rental properties in all of the major growth areas. There is a new airport and HS2 railway plans that will also increase rental numbers in Leeds.The HS2 plans will connect all of the major cities together to make available swift and relaxed access to each of the cities. These plans will have a huge impact on the Leeds rental market when they are complete.

Housing Stock

Another reason for the increase in the Leeds rental market is that the area is going through the highest rise in housing stock and the location has some substantial future planning arrangements that are all suggestive of an upcoming active economy. Therefore,the rise and plans are enhancing the resident’s awareness of the rental market. Leeds is a center for progress, so that makes it an excellent place to invest in. The levels of renting amid the younger age groups are at a record high, and apartments lead the cities, which makes these the most worthwhile investment properties.

Center of Excellence

Leeds is a center of excellence because it has Leeds University, a top 20 Russell Group and a growing business network.This excellence makes Leeds a wonderful visitor destination and is one of the reasons that the Leeds rental market is on the rise. According to Visit Britain, the amount of time visitors spend in the United Kingdom has increased by three percent in 2015. Now with up to 273 million visitors yearly, with over 1,000 shops and dependably ranks at the top of shopping league tables. Leeds is a very popular visitor destination, and it has just welcomed Victoria Gate. Victoria Gate is home to the largest John Lewis department store outside of London and will bring an even bigger rental market to Leeds.

Tech Sector

Leeds has one of the fastest growing tech sectors, which is believed to be the most influential reason for increasing rental numbers in the market. All of this is because the employment and revenue growth rates in the United Kingdom tech sector significantly beats all of the other industries. There are over 3,500 digital organizations in Leeds, and it is home to the Northern Internet Exchange and IX Leeds. These facts are what makes Leeds the only internet independent city in the United Kingdom outside of London. Leeds being the only internet independent city, besides London, makes its rental market flourish.

There was a massive rush to buy a property for letting it out in the first quarter of the year. This was to get out ahead of the deadline at the start of April. After the deadline, an extra charge was added for second-time home buyers and investors seeking to buy homes to put up for rent. This deadline showed the growth in popularity of buy-to-let properties as a well-worth it investment at a time of low interest rates and unstable stock markets.

With total annual returns from buy-to-let properties increasing to 12% in 2015, investments in buy-to-let properties have outperformed all of the most important asset categories in recent years and have provided super returns to landlords for a long time. The United Kingdom has many buy-to-let hot spots. A lot of rental properties and properties that were advertised for online sale were researched, and it was found that there is an obvious geographical division. Most of the ten uppermost yielding districts in the United Kingdom are in Scotland and the other Northern regions.The ten lowest yielding districts, except for a very few, are all in Greater London, the South East and the South Coast.

The top 10 areas were:

  1. The Leeds district with a 10.79% yield because the average rent is £1,044 the average house price is £116,115.
  2. The Bradford district with a 10.33% yield because the average rent is £552 and the average house price is£64,108.
  3. The York district with a 9.73% yield because the average rent is £1,876 and the average house price is £231,388.
  4. The Preston district with a 9.08% yield because the average rent is £952 and the average house price is £125,810.
  5. The Middlesbrough district with a 9.05% yield because the average rent is £523 and the average house price is £69,368.
  6. The Liverpool district with an 8.72% yield because the average rent is £720 and the average house price is £99,114.
  7. The Manchester district with an 8.31% yield because the average rent is £1,230 and the average house price is £177,546.
  8. The Sheffield district with an 8.31% yield because the average rent is £823 and the average house price is £118,861.
  9. The Huddersfielddistrict with a 7.75% yield because the average rent is £656 and the average house price is £101,536.
  10. The Cardiff district with a 7.60% yield because the average rent is £1,220 and the average house price is £192,548.

The lowest areas were:

  • The Bromley district with a 1.98% yield because the average rent is £1,300 and the average house price is £788,293.
  • The London district–Winchmore Hill, Bush Hill and Grange Park, with a 1.95% yield because the average rent is £1,339 and the average house price is £825,700.
  • The Northwood district with a 1.88% yield because the average rent is £1,732 and the average house price is £1,103,645.
  • The Birmingham district with a 1.65% yield because the average rent is £1,013 and the average house price is £656,412.
  • The London district–Kensington and Holland Park, with a 1.78% yield because the average rent is £4,920 and the average house price is £3,320,116.
  • The Reading district with a 1.70% yield because the average rent is £1,225 and the average house price is £865,454.
  • The London district–East Finchley, Fortis Green and the Hampstead Garden Suburb, with a 1.65% yield because the average rent is £3,764 and the average house price is £2,733,640.
  • The Poole district–Lower Parkstone, Lilliput and Penn Hill, with a 1.54% yield because the average rent is £1,288 and the average house price is £1,000,795.
  • The London district–Highgate and Hampstead Heath, with a 1.38% yield because the average rent is £2,779 and the average house price is £2,418,305.
  • The Poole district–Canford Cliffs, Sandbanks andBranksome Park, with a 1.13% yield because the average rent is £1,574 and the average house price is £1,668,641.

Leeds has been emphasized as one of the cities foreseen to have the biggest rise in property prices. With the economic and population growth of the city, the property rental market is expected to rise with the growing demand.