Scotland’s two largest cities have topped Colliers’ biannual list of the UK cities that are best for property investment.
Edinburgh has returned to the top spot in the firm’s sixth edition of the report, having featured in the top two rankings since its inception in 2021, due to a strong economy, skilled workforce and high proportion of properties with an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C or above.
Glasgow took second position, having had a steady rise through the rankings from 11th in the first edition, due to the affordability of housing stock, strong rental yields for investors and properties which are generally more energy efficient.
Andrew White, head of residential at Colliers, said: “Edinburgh has once again secured the top spot for our UK Residential Investment Cities report thanks to its quality housing stock, diverse economy and residents reporting satisfaction with living in the area.
“Glasgow has been a steady climber in our rankings over the last three years, it’s always had good property potential due to the affordability of properties, and in more recent years we’ve seen earning potential and entrepreneurship start to flourish in the city, which is also helping to sustain its rise.”
The report analyses 20 locations across the UK against 24 indicators, such as population growth, EPC rankings and leisure facilities, which are grouped into five pillars: economy, research and development, liveability, property and sustainability.
The top 10 UK residential investment cities during the second half of 2023 were:
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow
- Milton Keynes
- Manchester
- Cardiff
- Oxford
- London
- Reading
- Cambridge
- Leeds
Oliver Kolodseike, director in the research and economics team at Colliers, added: “The Scottish cities both excel for different reasons in our analysis; Edinburgh clearly benefits from being the financial centre for the country, and as such we see higher earnings potential and higher housing prices – there’s a lot of strong educational institutions in the area as well.
“However, Glasgow has had strong house price growth in recent years, and scores top in our analysis of EPC rankings which makes it attractive to investors as well as homebuyers looking to use their property as a long-term investment.”
Average flat price and affordability ratios:
|
Rank |
City |
Average flat price |
Affordability ratio |
|
1 |
Edinburgh |
£257,792 |
8.0 |
|
2 |
Glasgow |
£153,077 |
5.3 |
|
3 |
Milton Keynes |
£168,801 |
5.3 |
|
4 |
Manchester |
£204,692 |
7.5 |
|
5 |
Cardiff |
£168,609 |
5.6 |
|
6 |
Oxford |
£306,617 |
9.7 |
|
7 |
London |
£447,044 |
12.4 |
|
8 |
Reading |
£221,023 |
7.4 |
|
9 |
Cambridge |
£323,086 |
9.4 |
|
10 |
Leeds |
£158,016 |
5.4 |
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