Buy-to-Let Landlords Prioritise Local Markets Over Yields, Research Finds
UK Property News

Buy-to-Let Landlords Prioritise Local Markets Over Yields, Research Finds

By The Property AI Newsroom, Editorial Team · 15 September 2026 · 1 min read

Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by PropertyWire. Read the original article for full details.

Landlords look closer to home, research suggests

Professional landlords in the UK are concentrating their investments in their home regions rather than pursuing higher yields elsewhere, according to new research from Redwood Bank.

Analysis of landlord investment patterns between 2021 and 2026 shows professional investors increasingly focusing on markets where they have local knowledge.

What the research found

The findings, reported by PropertyWire, indicate a shift in how professional buy-to-let investors approach market selection. Rather than seeking out the highest-yielding locations regardless of geography, landlords are prioritising areas they know well, typically their own home regions.

The research covers landlord investment patterns from 2021 to 2026 and suggests familiarity with a local market is playing a growing role in investment decisions.

What this means for agents and clerks

For letting agents, the trend towards locally focused investment could mean more landlords operating in the areas where agents already work, reinforcing the value of strong local market knowledge when advising landlord clients.

For inventory clerks, locally based landlords may take a greater interest in the condition and management of their properties, given their proximity, though the research reported by PropertyWire does not draw conclusions on this point.

A cautious read

The source reporting is limited in scope, and this brief confines itself to what has been explicitly stated: that Redwood Bank's research identifies a preference among professional landlords for home-region investment over yield-led strategies elsewhere, based on analysis of patterns between 2021 and 2026.

Letting agents and inventory clerks seeking the underlying data, methodology or full findings should read the original PropertyWire report and Redwood Bank's research directly.


Source: PropertyWire
About the author
The Property AI Newsroom
Editorial Team

The Property AI Newsroom curates daily UK lettings and property news for letting agents, inventory clerks, and property professionals. Our articles are AI-assisted and reviewed against authoritative trade publications and government sources. Every article carries a citation back …

AI-assisted reporting, sourced from Property118, Letting Agent Today, Landlord Today, Gov.UK MHCLG, The Negotiator, PropertyWire and Mortgage Solutions.

Streamline Your Property Management

See how The Property AI helps landlords and letting agents create inventory reports and grow their business.

Book a Free Demo