The UK’s best place to be a buy-to-let landlord in 2026 – and it isn’t London
- Manchester tops the list with an average property price below the UK average and an annual rental return of 6.4%, beating all 32 London boroughs.
- Newcastle upon Tyne ranks second and is the only area in the study to deliver an annual return of more than 7%, while Blackpool places third.
- New research ranks 310 areas across England and Wales on five measures: property price, five-year price growth, rental yield, monthly rent and share of households in the private rented sector.
MANCHESTER is Britain’s top area for buy-to-let in 2026, new research has revealed.
The city takes first place in a new index published by leading UK property investment company ERE Property. It scores 310 local authorities across England and Wales on five weighted metrics: average property price (30%), annual rental yield (25%), five-year property price growth (20%), private rented sector share (15%) and average monthly rent (10%) to find the best places to invest in property.
Manchester takes the top spot as an ideal place to be a landlord after performing well across all five metrics. Its average property price of £251,461 is below the UK average of £267,957, while its annual rental return of 6.4% is the fifth-highest of any local authority in the country. Property values in the city have risen by 24.7% over the past five years, ahead of the UK average of 17.0%. Almost a third (32.3%) of Manchester households rent privately, placing it inside the UK’s top 15 for private rented sector share.
Newcastle upon Tyne takes second place, narrowly behind Manchester. It is the only local authority in the ranking to deliver an annual return above 7%, at 7.01%, with an average property price of £205,112. Newcastle property values have risen by 22.9% over the past five years. However, it falls into second place as the percentage of households that rent privately is considerably lower than Manchester, at 22.8%.
The third best place to be a buy-to-let landlord in England and Wales is Blackpool. It has the cheapest homes on the top-10 list at an average of £136,609 – one of the five lowest average property prices among the 310 areas ranked. Blackpool prices have risen 23.5% in five years, and the town has strong demand for rented housing, with 31.8% of the market renting privately.
Nottingham takes fourth place, with an average property price of £194,014 and an annual return of 6.2%. The city has seen prices rise by 21.4% over the past five years and 28.6% of its households rent privately.
Salford and Hyndburn take fifth and sixth spot, with Hyndburn standing out for the highest five-year price growth of any area in the country at 40.2%. Burnley, Liverpool, Portsmouth and Southampton complete the top 10.
Seven of the top 10 areas are in the north of England, with Manchester, Blackpool, Salford, Hyndburn, Burnley and Liverpool all in the North West, and Newcastle in the North East. Just one London borough, Newham at 38th place, makes the top 50 of the overall ranking.
At the other end of the ranking, Kensington and Chelsea ranks last of the 310 areas, with the highest average property price in the country at £1,225,499 and a price tag that has fallen by 10.5% over the past five years. Westminster has seen the largest decline of any area in the country, down 14.9% over the same period. Three south-east commuter areas – Elmbridge in Surrey, Waverley and Mole Valley – join Kensington and Chelsea and Uttlesford in Essex to complete the bottom five.
The UK’s top 10 buy-to-let areas in 2026
| Rank | Area | Avg property price | 5-yr price change | Avg monthly rent | Annual return |
| 1 | Manchester | £251,461 | +24.7% | £1,345 | 6.4% |
| 2 | Newcastle upon Tyne | £205,112 | +22.9% | £1,199 | 7.0% |
| 3 | Blackpool | £136,609 | +23.5% | £693 | 6.1% |
| 4 | Nottingham | £194,014 | +21.4% | £1,006 | 6.2% |
| 5 | Salford | £224,404 | +24.7% | £1,162 | 6.2% |
| 6 | Hyndburn | £140,673 | +40.2% | £636 | 5.4% |
| 7 | Burnley | £128,687 | +28.8% | £624 | 5.8% |
| 8 | Liverpool | £177,378 | +24.0% | £888 | 6.0% |
| 9 | Portsmouth | £248,387 | +13.2% | £1,349 | 6.5% |
| 10 | Southampton | £232,336 | +11.4% | £1,243 | 6.4% |
Annual return = average monthly rent x 12, divided by average property price. Source: ERE Property.
Commenting on the study, Helen Mercer-Jones, Managing Director at ERE Property, said:
“London is no longer the default choice for the modern landlord. With only one London borough even making the top 50, our research highlights a massive geographic pivot in the UK property market. For those seeking returns above 6% or 7%, the smart money is moving North to cities that offer both lower barriers to entry and a much higher ceiling for rental growth.”
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