What can Leeds’ property market offer you as a buy-to-let investor?

• Buy-to-let opportunities in the city centre of Leeds generating high returns and strong demand
• Investment property in sectors such as build-to-rent, HMO and short-term let
• Free access to lucrative developer stock in and around Leeds city centre
• Leeds City Region now boasts the second-largest economy after London 
• Average gross rental yield of 8.97%, which drastically outranks other cities
• Soaring property prices rising by around 21.5% in the next 5 years

Property Investment Leeds: Leading the way for strong rental growth and tenant demand

The growth of the Leeds rental market goes hand in hand with the city experiencing a significant rise in housing stock. This is due to city-wide investment plans that all point to a future active economy. Consequently, these plans are increasing awareness about the rental market among residents. The fact that Leeds is a growing area makes it a good place to invest.

In terms of demographics, renting is at record levels for the younger age groups. For this rental market, apartments are among the most viable investment properties. With this, HMO property investment is proving extremely lucrative in and around city centres, and Leeds excels in this asset class due to its high student and young professional population.

Property prices soaring year upon year makes Leeds a fantastic place for capital growth

It goes without saying that the entirety of the UK is seeing prolific growth in the housing sector, with the leading cities experiencing rapid increases in house prices, rental costs and investment. Leeds, in particular, is amongst one of the dominant cities whose property market is outperforming many other prime UK cities.

In 2021, the average sale price of a standard property in Leeds rose by around £25,000. In fact, it has been projected that house prices in Yorkshire will increase by 21.6% in the next five years, with the demand for city-centre apartments driving both rental and housing costs up year on year.

One of the UK’s most successful business hubs

Leeds’ stable employment base and diverse sectors play an integral role in its appeal to investors and young professionals. Currently, there are around 126,000 companies based in the Leeds city region, with this number forecasted to increase in the coming years. Moreover, employment is predicted to rise by an average of 6.5% over the next 10 years. This is an extraordinarily high increase in comparison to most other prime cities in the UK.

Leeds is home to a plethora of sectors, including retail, leisure, construction and manufacturing. The digital industry, in particular, is a fast-emerging sector in the Leeds city region and has so far employed over 100,000 individuals. The opportunities that continue to arise in the digital space suggest that more and more talented people will choose to relocate to Leeds and contribute to the strong demand for housing. The dominating sectors in Leeds, however, are financial and business services, which accounts for 38% of the total output.

Large-scale regeneration work and the rapidly growing economy are what continue to attract such big players to base their headquarters in this area. Some big names include the likes of Asda, Jet2, NHS England and Tetley’s Brewery. It is with thanks to these triumphant businesses that more young people opt to study, work and live in Leeds – such large companies offer unrivalled opportunities that cannot be found elsewhere.