With some of the strongest rental yields and fastest house price gains, the North West of England has become a firm investor favourite, with landlord confidence surging.
When it comes to UK property investment, the North of England continues to offer a strong alternative to the once-favoured London market.
In the North West, landlords not only get more for their money than in the South, but are achieving some of the strongest rental yields in the country, particularly in the leading cities of Manchester and Liverpool.
Recent research from Cohab revealed that Manchester was actually the highest-yielding city in the UK, achieving average rental yields of 6.35% in April this year, which the report put down to the city’s vibrant student community and influx of young professionals drawn to its strong jobs market and cultural offering.
Confidence climbing in the North West
And a report earlier this month from the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) found that landlord confidence has risen the most in the North West out of all the UK’s regions since Q4 2024.
The region scored 33.3 in the NRLA’s Confidence Tracker, level with the North East in joint third position after Wales with a score of 36.6. This represents a 10.5% increase in investor confidence over the past year, showing how the region continues to make headway as a hotspot for landlords.
By contrast, landlord confidence in the North East, despite achieving the same score in the latest results, had fallen by 4% since the final quarter of last year. But the location to see the biggest drop in confidence was Outer London, which languished at the bottom of the rankings with a score of 28.9 and a -9.9% fall.
Overall, confidence among investors has ticked up slightly for a third consecutive quarter.
Portfolio focus
The NRLA’s report looked at the regions in which each landlord respondent’s portfolio was focused, out of a total of 1,653 landlords who took part. Out of these,the vast majority (83%) owned multiple properties, while 14% owned just one (while the remainder refrained from specifying).
The results showed that by far the highest percentage (24%) listed their main focus area as the South East, followed by London at 17%. With the majority of landlords (around 70%) being aged between 55-74, this could be down to the fact that, at the point at which many of them became landlords, these regions were the top performers.
However, the third most popular region was the North West, with 11% of landlords focusing their portfolios here. As the region continues to outperform the previously coveted London and South East markets, it seems likely that this number will continue to climb.
Where to look?
Some of the top investment destinations for landlords seeking competitive prices, strong capital growth prospects and above-average yields include:
- Manchester: A major economic hub with excellent educational facilities and employment opportunities, with some of the fastest-rising property prices in the country.
- Liverpool: A low-cost location offering excellent rental yields and benefiting from significant regeneration and improvement projects.
- Stockport: Another regeneration hotspot, Stockport is making a name for itself as a competitive alternative to Manchester, piquing the interest of property investors.
- Preston: A small, student-heavy city that offers impressive capital appreciation and close links to major cities.
- Salford: Manchester’s closest neighbour, Salford has been transformed since the development of Media City, and is a hugely popular option for young professional tenants.
New opportunities
At the start of the summer, Hamptons revealed that a record 39% of buy-to-lets bought so far in 2025 were in the North or the Midlands (with a large proportion of these being in the North West), showing a clear trend towards investors moving north.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, pointed out that while property investment in some markets was “grinding to a halt” because of higher purchase and mortgage costs, many landlords were clearly keen to move their business further afield for better conditions.
“One of the main ways landlords are trying to mitigate against higher stamp duty and mortgage costs is by seeking better-yielding and cheaper properties, increasingly in Northern England.
“Based on current trends, 2033 will mark the point at which the bulk of buy-to-let purchases are in the Midlands and North of England, rather than the South.
“This may also have a knock-on impact on rents if supply conditions in the South of England worsen, and where tenants’ finances are already most stretched.”
If you’re looking for your next property investment opportunity in the North West of England, get in touch with BuyAssociation today for details on our latest projects.
