Stockport has shot to second position in a ranking of best postcodes for buy-to-let investment in England and Wales.
The town, located in Greater Manchester, is up 18 places in the quarterly buy-to-let index published by Lendinvest, buoyed on by continued strong buy-to-let performance in neighbouring Manchester.
Stockport’s attractiveness has been powered by a combination of fast growth in capital gains and a substantial rise in rents.
Neighbouring Manchester took third position in the rankings. Its performance was cemented by some of the highest yields in the country (5.29%), as well as relatively strong capital gains and rental growth.
Across the pennines, other northern postcodes in hot pursuit included Channel 4’s new home Leeds and neighbouring Harrogate. The two Yorkshire neighbours took 12th and 19th place respectively in the rankings. Leeds’s strong performance came on the back of high yields (4.28%) and the tenth largest rental growth in the country (3.45%). Harrogate meanwhile had the fourth highest rental price increase in the country at 4.14%.
Stoke-on-Trent and Bolton in Greater Manchester had the eighth and ninth highest rental growth rate in the country at 3.49% and 3.46% respectively.
The market town of Colchester took the top spot for the best place for buy-to-let investment. The fastest rental price growth in the country ensured it maintained its attractiveness, despite a cooling off in capital gains.
The Essex town joined Enfield in north London in bucking the slowdown of the buy-to-let market in the the south east. Enfield shot to number 9 in the buy-to-let index, up an outstanding 34 places on its position in the July index.
However, the south east elsewhere fared poorly, with East Central London, Slough, and South West London featuring in the bottom 10 least attractive buy-to-let postcodes. South West London and Slough saw falls both in capital gains and rental prices. Luton, which was the top performing buy-to-let postcode in the country in the July index, fell nine places to 10th position, registering mediocre rental price growth at 2.17%.
The West Midlands also maintained a robust buy-to-let market, with Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry all earning a place in the top 10 buy-to-let postcodes for November. Coventry is the third best place in the country for capital gains, recording 6.36% capital gains, beaten only by Sutton and Canterbury.
An interactive map of the buy-to-let postcode index for November can be accessed here.