Landlords 'should invest in cities'

This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.

Landlords hoping that new properties will increase in value should invest in cities in general and in Northern Ireland in particular, a new report has shown.

Figures released by HBOS indicated that city living is very popular with people in the UK, meaning that landlords with urban properties are likely to experience both high levels of demand and good capital appreciation.

The data showed that Armagh in Northern Ireland has seen the biggest increase in house prices of any UK city over the past five years with a rise of 188 per cent.

In fact, the next three largest risers were also Northern Irish cities.

Other municipalities which have seen impressive house price increases include Bradford (131 per cent), Dundee (130 per cent), Aberdeen (125 per cent) and Swansea (125 per cent).

"The attraction of shopping and leisure facilities, as well as a short commute for workers, means that there will always be demand to live in cities," explained Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax Estate Agents.

"Many cities have also benefited from urban regeneration programmes that have seen the wide scale redevelopment of old industrial areas and canal side warehouses into residential properties."

Recently, an industry expert said that it was important that landlords looking to buy ex-council flats carefully checked the small print of their contracts before making a decision.

Buy letting agent software that works.