LendInvest BTL Index highlights towns and cities bucking the house price slowdown trend

Quarterly report examines where property investment opportunities remain buoyant, dismissing fear of nationwide house price growth slowdown

London, 29 March 2017 – LendInvest, the UK’s leading marketplace platform for property finance, has released the latest LendInvest Buy-to-Let Index report.

Published quarterly, the LendInvest BTL Index ranks 105 postcode areas around England and Wales based on a combination of four critical metrics: capital value growth, transaction volumes, rental yield and rental price growth.

Key findings for March 2018

• Colchester (#1) tops the BTL Index table at last after holding the #2 spot since September 2017
• The Midlands surges through the table as Northampton (#2), Leicester (#3) and Birmingham (#5) move into the Top 5
• London commuter towns Dartford (#43), Romford (#14) and St Albans (#73) – historically high flyers in the Index – drop down the table by as many as 58 places

LendInvest has also published a special supplement to the Index that investigates how the same postcode areas are faring amid a nationwide slowdown in house price growth. House price growth is a crucial factor for landlords and property investors to take into account when looking at how a potential investment property will perform as a long-term asset.

Special feature: How house price growth slowdown is impacting BTL Index findings

• The Midlands has been largely unaffected by house price growth slowdown, sending three of its largest cities into the Top 5 of the Index
• South West of England remain unscathed by house price growth slowdown, with Cornwall’s only city, Truro, recording 73% upswing in house price growth, bucking the national trend
• Four commuter towns circling London see surprising 50%+ house price growth slowdown, sending them down the Index

Ian Boden, Sales Director at LendInvest, said: “We don’t subscribe to the idea of a mass house price growth slowdown throughout the country. Instead we wanted the Index to show us where the slowdown is hitting hardest, and where the opportunities continue to abound for UK landlords and property investors alike.

Predictions for the overall growth of the housing market remain positive for the year ahead but this quarter’s Index indicates that house price growth slowdown is impacting on different regions to different degrees. There are reasons to be cheerful in many places around the country. Looking at the South West and the Midlands in particular, we can see modest slowdown occurring that’ll keep market activity buoyant.

Striking the right balance when it comes to making property investment decisions is crucial; however, the current limitations in house price growth mean fewer opportunities in the market to perform a traditional “flip” of a property to get a return. We can expect to see investors taking longer-term positions in property as they look to to yields and rental price growth as valuable metrics in the short-term to determine the profitability of an asset. The best way for investors to take advantage of the volatility in the rental market is to seek out buy-to-let opportunities.”

Note to Editors:

• Full PDF report available here
• Embeddable map showing postcode areas around England and Wales can be downloaded from here
• Data sources: Land Registry, Zoopla
• Full underlying data available on request