Yahoo News Bristol one of 'top cities to invest in buy-to-let'
Bristol is among the top cities in the country to invest for buy-to-let, according to a national newspaper. The Daily Telegraph branded the city among the top spots for investors this year, with the list also featuring places such as Sheffield, Glasgow and Leamington Spa.
Bristol is featured in the list because of "its high demand for long-term private renters and high annual rental price growth". Lili Oliver, at buying agent Oliver Roth, told the Telegraph that she believes "rental growth is to stay because the city’s population is growing fast and incomes are relatively high", adding "it is also a lovely, lively city with excellent infrastructure".
The newspaper recommends investors that they buy HMOs in order to get the biggest returns, highlighting the area of St George. It says: "You could pick up a four-bedroom terrace in up and coming St George, east of the city centre, for around £450,000."
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Bristol is currently facing a housing crisis and just last year the city was found to be the most expensive place to rent in Britain outside of London. At the time, Bristol was the local area with the highest average private rent (£1,734), excluding London.
The city has also been listed as one of the most expensive places across the whole of the UK to get on the property ladder. Rightmove found that the average asking price for a first-time buyer-type property with two bedrooms or fewer in Bristol was £280,112.
It also calculated the typical monthly mortgage payment, assuming a 35-year mortgage term, was £1,1039. The city came in seventh on the list for the most expensive places to buy a house.
Last year, the marketing of a new development of apartments in Bristol was described as ‘wrong’ by the local councillor for the area, after those selling the properties highlighted the spiralling costs of rents, the ‘chronic shortage’ of homes, and how much money buy-to-let landlords would make, as plus points.
Alliance Investments was marketing apartments at the controversial Chocolate Factory development in Greenbank, targeting buy-to-let investors by promoting how much they will be able to charge in rent and earn from the properties.
That sparked a fierce backlash among many in Bristol who are at the sharp end of the housing crisis, and the local councillor said the kind of thing being promoted by the agents is causing homelessness or forcing people to move out of their community.
Oliver also told the Daily Telegraph that yields for buying in Bristol are "not fantastic. She said: "Aldermore calculates average annual yields of 4.4pc which, once costs are taken into account, will probably earn you less than if you simply put the money in the bank.
"Going the HMO route means more work but a better income. Oliver estimates average HMO returns at 8pc to 12pc."
