The average profit made by landlords selling their property in 2017 was £86,651, according to Countrywide Monthly Lettings Index.
This figure was slightly higher than it was the year prior. In 2016, the average landlord selling their property made a gain of £86,302.
Across all of England and Wales, 88 per cent of landlords selling made a profit. ‘House price growth has driven investor gains. In 8 of those last 9 years house prices have risen,’ said Johnny Morris, Research Director at Countrywide.
However, Landlord gains were slightly behind owner occupiers, who on average made £92,886 when selling their home in 2017.
Unsurprisingly, gains were not spread evenly across all regions. London and the South East have seen the strongest growth in house price rises in recent years and so saw higher average profit of landlord sellers.
The average sale profit of a London landlord was £253,081. For the South East, that figure was £108,073.
Eight of the top 10 local authorities in England and Wales that made the highest percentage gains for landlords were based in London, with Brent topping the list (135 per cent average profit). Maldon in Essex (118 per cent) and Pendle in Lancashire (109 per cent) were the only two exceptions.
At the same time, the proportion of London landlords doubling their money from a sale was 28 per cent. By contrast, the South East saw significantly less landlords double their money, at 15 per cent, but still slightly above the national average.
The region did, however, see the highest proportion make a profit, at 97 per cent, with London slightly behind ay 96 per cent.
Other regions saw less attractive returns. However, as Morris notes: ‘Even in areas where price growth has lagged behind most landlords have made a profit from rising prices.’
Landlords in the North Eats made the smallest returns. Just 9 per cent of landlords in the region doubled their money and 25 per cent made no profit at all.
The area with the worst returns, however, was Selby in North Yorkshire. The average landlord here saw profits on sale of around 14 per cent, or £9,703 on average.
Source: Money Observer