Where are the best - and worst - BTL buys right now?

Buy-to-let: where's the best place to invest? Credit experts TotallyMoney revealed the best and worst UK postcodes for residential investment property this week. The most profitable areas are in Scotland (as we revealed in this blog last week ) and the North West. The results reveal:

• Despite issues around regulation and tax, the UK buy-to-let market is still strong, with many of the best performing postcodes turning a 7% to 8% yield.
• Liverpool’s L1 postcode returns a 10% yield — the highest in the UK.
• Two Scottish postcodes make the top three and a total of nine Scottish areas feature in the top 25 of the best yields
• The North East also has some top performers. TS1 and TS3 in Cleveland rank fifth and 12th respectively, while Sunderland features twice (SR8 and SR5), and Gateshead’s NE8 has a 7.27% yield —putting it in 18th position.
• All postcodes in the top 25 have property asking prices under the current UK national average of £232,710.

So despite continuing changes in tax relief and greater landlord responsibilities, TotallyMoney's research shows a good number of UK postcodes returning healthy profits for property investors. Take a look at their map here https://www.totallymoney.com/buy-to-let-yield-map/ On the flipside, some of the country’s best-known commuter belt areas have the lowest yields. At the very bottom is AL5 in St Albans. The average buying price for a property here is £800,000 and asking rent is £1,300 per month. Total yield: just 1.95%. This puts it below London’s W8 postcode (Kensington) which still manages to squeeze out a 2.05% return for landlords even though average property prices are a hefty £1,962,500. Other commuter spots in the bottom ten include RG10 in Reading (2.26%), GU10 in Guilford (2.22%) and KT7 in Kingston upon Thames (2.20%). So the verdict is that buy-to-let is still worth it but landlords need to do their homework. Research before buying – and stay flexible about where you spend your money. Get it right and there are still good returns to be made.