Small pays big in buy-to-let

Based on a survey of 50,000 properties across England, Scotland and Wales, Countywide has collected national yield, rent and arrears data based on the number of bedrooms a property has.

Nick Dunning, commercial director at Countrywide, said: “We wanted to produce this data to show landlords and investors what sized properties are achieving in terms of rents and yields.

“For example a one bedroom flat in Nottingham recently sold for £51,000 and is providing a rental yield of 6.9%. With rents rising, arrears falling and some significantly improved buy-to-let mortgage products compared to those available in the last two years, the findings are very encouraging for investors who are looking to start or expand their property portfolio this year.”

Three and four plus bedroom properties are achieving an average yield of 6.2% and 5.6% respectively. The average rent for four bedrooms properties was £1,398pcm in the first quarter of 2013 whilst for one bedroom properties it was £673pcm.

Despite larger properties achieving greater rents it is the smaller properties that have seen rents rise the most with one and two bedroom properties seeing a 3.3% year-on year increase in rents.

Meanwhile three bedroom properties have seen a rise of 2.3% and four plus bedroom homes have seen a rise of 0.3%.

All sizes of properties have seen a fall in rental arrears in the first quarter of 2013 with three bedroom properties witnessing the greatest fall at 1.5% and one-bedroom properties the smallest decrease at 0.4%.