Landlords across England and Wales continue to benefit from strong rental yields, with some dips observed year-on-year across regions both in the North and South, according to buy-to-let specialist lender, Fleet Mortgages’ latest Buy-to-Let Rental Barometer for Q2 2025.
The Fleet Mortgages Quarterly Rental Barometer provides a regional snapshot of rental yield trends in England and Wales, with this iteration comparing Q2 2024 to Q2 2025.
The data highlights continued strength in rental yields across most regions in line with yields over the past 12 months, with Wales jumping to the top spot with average quarterly yields of 9%, followed by the North West with 8.8% and the North East with 8.7%.
Fleet said these regions continue to hold an attraction for landlords due to the strength of yield achievable, plus a combination of lower property prices and sustained demand, especially when compared to supply.
Across England & Wales the average rental yield dipped by just 0.1% over the year, however quarter-on-quarter it was up by the same amount from 7.4% in Q1 2025 to 7.5% in Q2.
Fleet said this reflects a continued period of yield stability across all regions in which it lends, underpinned by strong and sustained appetite from existing landlords looking to maintain and expand their portfolios, and benefit from both current rental income levels and the long-term potential for capital appreciation.
Four regions did show a slight dip on the yearly yield comparison, with the biggest dips being in the North East (-1.4%), the West Midlands (-0.8%) and East Anglia (-0.6%). However, quarter-on-quarter figures reveal these three regions had seen only a 0.5% fall over the three months, with the expectation these current levels could be sustained for a longer period going forward.
The biggest yearly increase in yields came from Wales, which saw a 0.7% increase, while its quarterly increase was a significant 1.3%. Other regions which also saw a quarterly increase include the East Midlands, the North West and the South West, which all saw increases of 0.4%.
Over the course of Q2, the North East saw a significant 21.8% increase in monthly rental values, followed by 7.8% in Wales and 6.5% in Greater London. However, four regions showed a quarterly dip – Yorkshire & Humberside (-1%), the South West (-1.6%), the South East (-3.5%) and the West Midlands (-5.8%). Overall, across all regions, rental values were up 2.9% quarter-on-quarter.
Yorkshire & Humberside has the most affordable monthly rent figure of £861 per calendar month (pcm), while the most expensive is Greater London at £2,328 pcm.
The Rental Barometer also looks at a range of other related data. Fleet’s lending data shows landlords remain active and committed to expanding portfolios, with 39% looking to purchase – the same figure as Q1 - and 54% owning four or more properties.
The attraction of buy-to-let for new landlords also remains strong, with first-time landlord applications holding steady at 14% over the quarter. Data also shows the ongoing dominance of limited company buy-to-let – 81% of all applications received by Fleet were from limited companies, with just 19% from those looking to borrow in their individual name.
On pricing, Fleet’s average two- and five-year fixed rates fell to 4.35% and 5.13% respectively (down from 4.63% and 5.15% in the last quarter), highlighting it said its continued competitive pricing; it continued to outperform peer market averages rates (4.93% and 5.27%).
