Where are the best places in the UK to buy a buy-to-long real estate? Mortgage provider Paragon Bank dug deep in his files to find that the top places have invested its landlords last year.
Student accommodation: University cities fill the landlord Hotspot Top 10
The data showed that the postal code of Cardiff CF24 had attracted the highest level of buy-to-let investments in the 12 months to the end of June 2025.
The area climbed fifth last year to be at the top of the newest buy-to-long hotspot list of the lender this year. And it is no wonder, because no less than 42% of the properties in the area are rented privately and has average yields of 8.9%.
It seems that there are large numbers of NHS employees in the area and this, combined with a strong student market, makes it a fertile land for landlord investors.
Next on the list, in second place, is a newcomer – PL4 in Plymouth. Just like Cardiff, Plymouth has three universities that offer landlords with a reliable stream of term tenants. This is a supplement to important employees who work in the Mount Gould Hospital in PL4.
Plymouth rental companies can generate an annual average return of 10.2%, the highest of all hotspots on the list. In the meantime, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data revealed that the average real estate price of the £ 216,000 area is considerably lower than the average of England of £ 286,000.
The third place is Le11 in Loughborough, which rose last year from the eighth most popular zip code for landlord purchases. Here landlords achieved average annual rental income of 8.0% during the 12 months to June.
Again, an important engine of demand is offered by students and large local workforce, with Le11 the home of the highly valued Loughborough University, the largest employer in the city and the Loughborough Hospital.
In fourth and fifth place, the NG7 area of Nottingham, where the yields are 8.5%, and Gloucester, with 9.7% the average rental efficiency.
The full list of the top 10 hotspots from Paragon Bank is below.
Louisa Sedgwick, managing director at Paragon Bank, said: “Looking at our credit data for the 12 months to the end of June, we can see agreements in investment strategies for the landlord.
“Our data also shows that landlords usually buy properties in larger city or cities and within relatively dense proximity of universities or large local employers, who benefit from a strong and stable demand.
“This support for higher education and health care, in addition to important sectors such as software, production and logistics, emphasizes the PRS contributed to the British economy.”
She added: “Rear type was of the type of real estate that was most often purchased by landlords in each of the hotspot locations. Smaller terraces are often more affordable than other types of real estate, making them a good place to start with newer landlords or people who want to expand their portfolios.
“On the other side of the scale, houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) are often classified as terrace -shaped properties, but benefit from typically higher yields due to the capacity for multiple lease contracts.”
Top 10 Buy-to-Let Investing locations (Source: Paragon Bank)
| Postcode | Weighted rental income | Most common type of real estate |
| CF24 – Cardiff | 8.9% | Terrace |
| PL4 – Plymouth | 10.2% | Terrace |
| Le11 – Loughborough | 8.0% | Terrace |
| NG7 – Nottingham | 8.5% | Terrace |
| GL1 – Gloucester | 9.6% | Terrace |
| HU5 – Hull | 9.3% | Terrace |
| LS6 – Leeds | 8.2% | Terrace |
| M14 – Manchester | 8.1% | Terrace |
| B29 – Birmingham | 7.7% | Terrace |
| ST4-Stoke-On-Trent | 10.1% | Terrace |