"Though London remains unrivalled for its demand for buy-to-let properties, we are seeing northern cities including Liverpool and Leeds come into the top 10."
Policy data and insight from almost 100,000 policies from leading landlord insurance provider Simply Business shows that landlords still view the capital as the biggest opportunity for buy-to-let properties in 2022, with over 39,000 buy-to-let insurance policies taken out in the capital.
Birmingham and Manchester remain strong in their appeal to landlords for the second year in a row after taking the second and third-place spots in both 2021 and 2022. Bristol's appeal has increased over the past year, climbing from sixth place in 2021 to fourth place last year, taking the place of Glasgow, which saw buy-to-let policies fall over the last two years.
Other cities that were found to be in the highest demand from landlords include Nottingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds and Leicester, all of which also made the top 10 list in 2021.
A recent report by Simply Business also found that 45% of landlords still think that letting property is still a worthwhile investment, and 23% of landlords are planning to buy another property in 2022.
All of the top ten cities for buy-to-let properties have at least one university, naturally drawing large demand for this type of property.
Top 10 cities for buy-to-let properties in 2022 according to policy data from Simply Business:
1: London
2: Birmingham
3: Manchester
4: Bristol
5: Nottingham
6: Glasgow
7: Edinburgh
8: Liverpool
9: Leeds
10: Leicester
Alan Thomas UK CEO at Simply Business, said: “The private rental sector houses over 17% of British households, with landlords taking on capital risk to provide the product of housing to those who otherwise might not be able to afford it.
“Though London remains unrivalled for its demand for buy-to-let properties, we are seeing northern cities including Liverpool and Leeds come into the top 10. It is wholly encouraging that our data shows that landlords view a broad spread of regions as attractive areas to invest this year. ”
