Leeds Ranked Highly in Top 10 UK Buy-to-Let Hotspots of 2023

Leeds has been named as the biggest buy-to-let hotspot in England for 2023.

The famous city had one of the biggest rises in the number of buy-to-let properties in the past year, only beaten to the top spot for the whole of the UK by Glasgow, which recorded an incredible rise of 12%.

Nottingham came in joint second alongside the Yorkshire spearhead, as both locations boast an impressive 8% increases in buy-to-let properties when comparing 2023 to 2022.

Simply Business analysed over 100,000 landlord insurance policies to reveal which cities have seen the largest increase in buy-to-let properties over the last 12 months.

Buy-to-let properties in Edinburgh soarded more than any other area in 2022, but the city slipped to ninth place after seeing an increase of just over 5% last year. Leicester experienced a similar drop, falling from second to fifth place in the last 12 months.

Leeds’ position skyrocketed to third place in 2023 after failing to even make the top five places last year.

Despite being home to over 40,000 buy-to-let properties, London saw the smallest percentage growth in the number of privately let properties in the top 10.

According to policy data from Simply Business, the full top 10 list is as follows:

1. Glasgow

2. Leeds

3. Nottingham

4. Bristol

5. Leicester

6. Manchester

7. Birmingham

8. Liverpool

9. Edinburgh

10. London

Simply Business' study suggests that London remains number one for the total number of private rental properties available, with properties in the capital accounting for 40% of policies provided through the broker in 2023, but the capital saw grow slow significantly – just 4% up in 2023 compared to 21% up in 2022. This suggests that most landlords could be looking away from the capital in search of cheaper mortgage rates and upfront property prices for their investments moving forward.

Despite the current market climate, many landlords still strongly consider rental properties to be a worthwhile avenue of investment, with half of landlords surveyed saying they would recommend investing in buy-to-let property.

Alan Thomas, UK CEO at Simply Business, said: “It’s heartening to see continued growth in the buy-to-let sector, with our data demonstrating that Glasgow is becoming an attractive spot for landlords to invest. Landlords provide housing to over five million households nationwide, but a combination of economic uncertainty, changing regulations, and rising costs meant there was no shortage of challenges facing the nation’s landlords in 2023.

“Insuring more than 450,000 landlords allows us to gain first-hand insight into the integral role they play in the housing market, plus the challenges they’re facing. It’s important that landlords are given the time and information they need to prepare for significant upheaval in the coming years, so they can continue to provide much-needed housing for almost five million households nationwide.”