Whether you’re venturing into or growing a buy-to-let portfolio, or simply looking for capital growth, investing in the wrong areas is a thin wire to step on.
Then there’s the consideration that if you are seeking out property management for your portfolio, to ensure your chosen managing agent is even more familiar with that area. Be it knowing where the best rental yields are, through to which areas are up-and-coming and promise future investment.
The key to successfully future-proofing your property strategy is by investing in areas which have long-term plans as early as possible; offering great potential for growth in in property values and excellent rental yields.
Research by broadband and utilities provider, Glide, reveals the top 10 areas where properties offer the potential for a regeneration price growth premium in addition to average values in the local area.
A series of FOI requests made by the company to local councils reveal the number of empty dwellings and commercial properties across the UK.
Collectively, across both categories of building, in the month of September 2019 there were 617,527 empty buildings across the UK.
Of those councils which held the information, Birmingham was revealed as the leading council area for the most potential space, with 8,086 residential properties and 7,622 commercial buildings in the city and its suburbs being empty.
Second is Liverpool, where 15,339 buildings are currently not occupied, while regions across the North dominate the top five, with Manchester, Leeds and Bradford also ranking highly.
| Local authority | Empty residential properties | Empty commercial properties | Total | |
| 1 | Birmingham City Council | 8086 | 7622 | 15,708 |
| 2 | Liverpool City Council | 11073 | 4266 | 15,339 |
| 3 | Manchester City Council | 10531 | 4003 | 14,534 |
| 4 | Leeds City Council | 8331 | 4528 | 12,859 |
| 5 | Bradford Metropolitan Council | 2610 | 7908 | 10,518 |
| 6 | Durham County Council | 7330 | 1573 | 8,903 |
| 7 | Bristol City Council | 6403 | 1742 | 8,145 |
| 8 | Cheshire West and Chester | 5860 | 1897 | 7,757 |
| 9 | Sheffield City Council | 5063 | 2610 | 7,673 |
| 10 | Cornwall Council | 5795 | 1662 | 7,457 |
Liverpool has the highest number of empty residential properties, with 11,073 sitting unoccupied, while the study revealed that there are a total 448,246 empty dwellings in this sector across the country – and that the top five cities account for 10% of the total number of vacant homes.
These figures of high vacant property numbers provide insight into potential for developers to create new spaces and re-purpose existing ones. This allows for a huge number of flats and apartments to be built, whilst also providing the opportunity for high-spec property refurbishments akin to the recent Chimney Pot Park development in Salford.
For more information on identifying key areas for property investment, and the levels of property management guaranteed to make your investment strategy successful, give us a call on 0161 883 2525.
