Consistently high rental returns are found in the North West

June 18, 2025

High rental yields are a cornerstone of any buy-to-let investment strategy. The higher they are, the greater the profit you will receive on your investment each month.

That makes searching for a buy-to-let location with high yields an important task for all investors. Yield is affected by the following factors:

Demand for property
Availability of property
Population growth
Low construction rates
Quality lifestyle and jobs on offer

Those factors are key for increasing demand and ensuring that available properties are filled as quickly as possible. When those things happen, rents rise and yields go up.

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How are rental yields calculated?

Your rental yield is the proportion of the original purchase price covered by the annual rental income. For example, if you buy a property for £100,000 and receive £10,000 of rental income each year, your gross yield is 10%.

To find the net yield, you need to deduct your costs from the annual rental income. These could be monthly property management fees or insurance costs. To go back to the previous example, if you had £1,000 of costs over the year, your rental income would reduce to £9,000 and your net yield would be 9%.

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Where are the highest rental yields in the UK?

Data from the Fleet Mortgages Rental Barometer shows that the North West finished 2024 with an average rental yield of 8.6%, compared to the national average of 7.6%. That makes the region one of the best places to invest for high rental yields in the UK.

New research from Paragon Bank shows the average rental yield in the North West has now increased even further, showing that investors in the North West are earning more every year.

That means the best time to buy property in the North West is now to make the most of the available profits. But where in the North West is best to invest? Buy-to-let property in Manchester and Liverpool offers the highest rental yields.

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Buy property in Manchester

Research from Cohab in Q1 2025 found that Manchester enjoys the highest rental yields of any city in the UK. Furthermore, rents are growing fast. Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that rents in Manchester went up 8.5% in the last year.

We expect these to keep rising in the future thanks to low construction levels and high population growth. The Deloitte Crane Survey shows that just 10,788 homes are scheduled to be completed in the next four years. Compare that to City Council estimates of at least 40,000 more people moving to Manchester by the end of the decade. It’s a recipe for rent rises and high rental yields in city centre developments like Waterhouse Gardens.

Learn more about Manchester and see our available investment opportunities today.

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Liverpool buy-to-let property for sale

The other North West option is Liverpool, which also offers rapidly growing rents, affordable entry prices and a lack of available homes. Like Manchester, there is a particular shortage of high-end, luxury accommodation in the city centre, which means property like Hordan House becomes even more valuable.

The ONS shows that rents in Liverpool are increasing even faster than in Manchester, with growth of 9.7% in the last year. That is on top of 2024 figures from local estate agents, which show growth the year before could have been as high as 12%.

Learn more about investing in Liverpool and see our available buy-to-let properties today.

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Do higher rents automatically mean a higher yield?

Not necessarily. Locations where rents are highest tend to have higher entry prices. London is the obvious example of this. The capital has the highest rents in the UK, but investing in the first place is extremely expensive and yields are therefore relatively low compared to other cities like Manchester and Liverpool.

A way around this is to buy off-plan property in buy-to-let hotspots. By purchasing when a development is still in construction, you can buy at today’s price and pay in the future when the building has grown in value and rents have increased.

That means your rental income will be proportionally higher than average when compared to your original purchase price. In other words, buying off-plan property allows you to enjoy a higher rental yield than if you buy completed properties.

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How to invest in North West buy-to-let property?

The first step is to get in touch with our team of expert investment advisors to discuss your financial goals and how we can help you achieve them. We are experienced and have helped many investors design a portfolio that achieves the highest rental returns possible.

Get our latest property market insights and then contact the team today to start your investment journey and secure the highest rental yields in the UK!

Consistently high rental returns are found in the North West

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