The most attractive BTL cities for landlords in 2020

London and Manchester are the most attractive cities for buy to let landlords in 2020, a survey has revealed.

The findings from the insurance firm Simply Business questioned more than 800 landlords to find where they believed the best BTL investment opportunities are going to be.

The results led to 18% of landlords opting for London and Manchester with the northern city offering opportunities supported by its strong student population.

And landlords say that London offers capital growth after property prices fell there in 2019 by an average of 1.8%.

However, the survey highlights that landlords are suggesting that BTL prosperity will be spread fairly evenly across the UK's regions this year.

In joint second place to find the best buy to let property investment destination is Liverpool and Birmingham with 10% of landlords pointing to these cities. In third place is Edinburgh followed by Bristol and Leeds.

The top 10 is completed with Oxford, Glasgow, Cardiff, Southampton and Sheffield.

'Landlords are crucial to the economy'

The chief executive at Simply Business, Bea Montoya, said: "Landlords are crucial to the economy and contribute £16.1 billion with pre-tax spending.

"The sector is home to 20% of UK households, so it's encouraging that landlords have seen a broad spread of regions as being attractive areas for investment this year."

She added that while London is usually the most expensive city for property investment, falling house prices has made it increasingly attractive to investors once more.

She said: "We know that a quarter of landlords are planning to sell at least one of their properties this year, due to government tax changes and reform, so it is reassuring to see that landlords are still looking at investment opportunities."

BTL landlords ‘frustrated by regulatory and tax changes’

Meanwhile, research from Accumulate Capital has highlighted that buy to let landlords are growing frustrated by regulatory and tax changes in the sector.

The firm found that 53% of BTL investors say they would have 'thought twice' about investing in property had they known how tightly regulated the private rental sector would then become.

Also, 72% of landlords say that current regulation and tax measures are weighted unfairly against them.

The firm's chief executive, Paul Howells, said: "Property investors are frustrated by the red tape in the buy to let market.

"There is a need for regulatory measures to protect all parties but the research shows that some landlords believe the system is weighted unfairly against them. We might see as a result, investors selling properties and downsizing their portfolio."