New buy to let city hotspot identified by insurance analysis

Glasgow has been revealed as the UK city with the biggest rise in the number of buy to let properties in the past year, closely followed by Nottingham, Leeds and Bristol. 

Insurance firm Simply Business made the claim after analysing over 100,000 landlord insurance policies.

Glasgow saw a 12 per cent increase in the number of buy-to-let properties in the city, whilst Nottingham and Leeds both saw increases of over eight per cent. London, whilst being home to over 40,000 buy to let properties, saw the smallest growth in the  number of privately let properties of those analysed by the insurer.

Top 10 cities for buy-to-let properties in 2023 according to insurance policy data: 

1. Glasgow
2. Nottingham
3. Leeds
4. Bristol
5. Leicester
6. Manchester
7. Birmingham
8. Liverpool
9. Edinburgh
10. London

Edinburgh, the city with the biggest growth in 2022, slipped to ninth place this year, and Leicester experienced a similar drop. Meanwhile, Leeds' position skyrocketed to third place in 2023, after failing to even make the top five places last year. 

London remains unmatched for the total number of private rental properties available, with properties in the capital accounting for 40 per cent of policies provided through the broker in 2023. Conversely, the capital has seen significantly slower growth - just four per cent compared to 21 per cent in 2022 - suggesting that landlords could be looking away from the capital for their property investments.

A spokesperson for the insurer says: “It’s heartening to see continued growth in the buy-to-let sector, with our data demonstrating that Glasgow is becoming an attractive spot for landlords to invest. Landlords provide housing to over five million households nationwide, but a combination of economic uncertainty, changing regulations, and rising costs meant there was no shortage of challenges facing the nation’s landlords in 2023.”