Best Cities for Long Term Returns: Southend, Luton & Bristol

Aldermore’s Buy to Let City Tracker reveals Southend properties increased by an average of £16,123 in value every year over the last decade
Luton and Bristol round out the top three cities for long term property returns
Aberdeen, Dundee, Sunderland and Newcastle ranked as the least attractive of the UK major cities for long term returns for a second year

Aldermore’s Buy to Let City Tracker¹ has named Southend, Luton, Bristol, Nottingham and Manchester as the best cities offering long term returns in house price growth during the last decade.

Aldermore’s Buy to Let City Tracker top 10 cities for returns:

Ranking	2022 ranking	+/-change	Avg. annual change in house price over last decade	2021 ranking
1	Southend	+2	+5.9%	Luton
2	Luton	-1	+5.9%	Bristol
3	Bristol	-1	+5.7%	Southend
4	Nottingham	+12	+5.6%	Oxford
5	Manchester	+10	+5.6%	Cambridge
6	Leicester	+5	+5.6%	Brighton
7	Cambridge	-2	+5.6%	London
8	Milton Keynes	+2	+5.6%	Basildon
9	Basildon	-1	+5.5%	Chelmsford
10	Chelmsford	-1	+5.5%	Milton Keynes

[Table of all 50 cities included in notes to editors]

Southend offers the strongest property investment

With robust house price growth year-on-year, Southend saw the biggest average annual increase in house price of all 50 cities featured, with a rise of 5.9% compared to the national average of 4.4%. This means the average property increased by £16,123 every year for the last 10 years.

Meanwhile, Luton also saw average annual house price growth of 5.9%, while Bristol property owners saw an increase of 5.7%.

However, landlords would be wise to play the long game when making their investments. When it comes to short-term yields, these cities performed notably worse, offering yields between 4%-4.9%.

A solid geographical mix across the top 10

The top 10 cities for long term property returns in the last year are dotted across the country, with representation from several major regions. There’s a strong showing of five in the East (Southend, Luton, Cambridge, Basildon and Chelmsford), two in the East Midlands (Nottingham and Leicester), as well as one apiece in the North West (Manchester), South West (Bristol) and South East (Milton Keynes).

Scotland and the North East offering less attractive returns in the long run

At the other end of the table, two Scottish cities featured in the bottom five for long term property returns, with Aberdeen (50^th) ranked as the worst city for the second year in a row, followed by Dundee (49^th). Rounding out the bottom five were two cities in the North East: Sunderland (48^th) and Newcastle (47^th), as well as Bradford (46^th) in Yorkshire.

Jon Cooper, head of mortgages at Aldermore, comments: “Over the past year, the housing market has seen major shifts that have affected people across the board, whether you’re a landlord, renter or homeowner. When combined with cost of living pressures and rising energy prices, landlords are naturally being forced to re-evaluate their portfolios. We recommend that all landlords work closely with their brokers to identify where the best returns are for their investments in 2023.”

**Ends**

Notes to editors

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¹Aldermore’s Buy-to-Let City Tracker was designed by Opinium and comprises of five core indicators: average rent per room per month, short-term yield for a new buy-to-let purchase, average property price rise over the last 10 years, proportion of vacant properties in the city and size of the private rental market. The index uses a series of secondary data sources including the ONS, Census and other official housing statistics.

Aldermore’s Buy to Let City Tracker 2022 Top 50 Overall Ranking Table:

Ranking	City	Region	Overall Score	2021 ranking
1	Manchester	North West	73	Bristol
2	London	London	73	Oxford
3	Bristol	South West	73	Cambridge
4	Cambridge	East	68	Manchester
5	Peterborough	East	67	Luton
6	Milton Keynes	South East	66	London
7	Luton	East	64	Northampton
8	Reading	South East	64	Brighton
9	Southend	East	63	Reading
10	Coventry	West Midlands	63	Norwich
11	Oxford	South East	61	Southend
12	Basildon	East	61	Coventry
13	Norwich	East	60	Edinburgh
14	Brighton	South East	59	Swindon
15	Nottingham	East Midlands	59	Leicester
16	Birmingham	West Midlands	57	Peterborough
17	Glasgow	Scotland	57	Basildon
18	Southampton	South East	56	Portsmouth
19	Swindon	South West	56	Southampton
20	Chelmsford	East	56	Glasgow
21	Edinburgh	Scotland	54	Plymouth
22	York	Yorkshire	54	Derby
23	Portsmouth	South East	52	Chelmsford
24	Northampton	East Midlands	52	Birmingham
25	Maidstone	South East	51	Bournemouth
26	Plymouth	South West	51	Nottingham
27	Telford	West Midlands	51	Telford
28	Leicester	East Midlands	50	York
29	Bournemouth	South West	49	Hull
30	Liverpool	North West	49	Wigan
31	Stoke	West Midlands	48	Maidstone
32	Derby	East Midlands	47	Stoke
33	Wigan	North West	47	Liverpool
34	Hull	Yorkshire	45	Milton Keynes
35	Wakefield	Yorkshire	45	Newcastle
36	Barnsley	Yorkshire	42	Cardiff
37	Newcastle	North East	41	Barnsley
38	Warrington	North West	40	Bradford
39	Leeds	Yorkshire	39	Aberdeen
40	Belfast	Northern Ireland	38	Warrington
41	Doncaster	Yorkshire	37	Dundee
42	Dundee	Scotland	35	Leeds
43	Cardiff	Wales	34	Belfast
44	Aberdeen	Scotland	33	Wolverhampton
45	Bradford	Yorkshire	31	Wakefield
46	Wolverhampton	West Midlands	30	Sheffield
47	Sheffield	Yorkshire	30	Doncaster
48	Sunderland	North East	30	Sunderland
49	Newport	Wales	21	Newport
50	Swansea	Wales	15	Swansea

Southend, Luton and Bristol ranked the best cities for long term property returns

Aldermore’s Buy to Let City Tracker top 10 cities for returns:

Southend offers the strongest property investment

A solid geographical mix across the top 10

Scotland and the North East offering less attractive returns in the long run

Notes to editors