One of the most interesting investment opportunities in the UK at the moment is the buying of a property in a university town with the intention of letting it out to students. There are record numbers of students going to university these days so finding tenants should be easy. However, choosing which university town or city to invest in a buy-to-let property is the more difficult part of the equation.
Luckily for those of us contemplating such an investment, the online estate agent eMoov has recently published the results of their University Property Index which has identified the top ten locations for just such an investment. The index calculated which areas had the best combination of affordable property options alongside a good level of academic ability required to attend the local university, which itself is calculated via the University and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS) Tariff.
Top Ten Student Buy-to-Let Cities
At number one on the list is Leeds, with the local University of Leeds having a pretty decent 436.5 UCAS points with an average property price of £95,310. That combination of fairly high UCAS points and very low average property price means there will be a very good standard of student in the area while the investment itself will be at the smaller end of the scale.
Second on the list comes Sunderland in the far north east, where properties have the lowest average price out of all the other cities making the top ten. There, a property will likely set you back around just £65,201, although the University of Sunderland’s UCAS points total is also the lowest out of the top ten at just 290.5.
Third place belongs to Bradford, where the average house price is very low at £86,350 while the UCAS points total of the University of Bradford is 321.4. Fourth and fifth place go to Leicester and Hull, while the remainder of the top ten is filled out by Manchester, Dundee, Glasgow, Birmingham and Newcastle, with the latter’s average house price being more than twice that of its neighbour Sunderland, but whose Newcastle University also scores a much higher UCAS points total of 431.7.
Buy-to-Let Opportunities Could Interest Parents of Students
Russell Quirk is the founder and Chief Executive of eMoov, and he said: “Going to university is an exciting first ‘life step’, but the associated costs are high with many graduates taking years to pay off their student debt. Investing in a property for your child can be one way of reducing this cost as well as creating an additional source of income for years to come. Properties close to the campus are always going to be a more attractive proposition and will help ensure interest in a property from the get go.”
