Good letting yields can be hard to come by nowadays, especially in the south east. As an alternative to high London prices many investors are looking to invest in cheaper property in towns in the wider south east area, where property prices are lower but where yields are still good.

To help direct investors towards the best investment property opportunities in the south east we’ve carried out some analysis to try and identify where the best yields are across the south east – as well as some area where the yields are not so good.

Town/city                     Av.price           Av.rent              Yield

Milton Keynes             £275,985           £1,049               5.18%

Ashford                        £269,393           £1,250                5.10%

Basildon                       £226,263           £976                  4.84%

Bracknell                     £329,569           £1,329                4.84%

Hemel Hempstead     £335,042           £1,037               4.71%

Gravesend                   £271,468           £889                  4.53%

Chelmsford                  £320,978          £905                  4.30%

Reading                       £371,550           £925                  4.00%

Stevenage                   £269,086            £694                 3.96%

Slough                          £335,748           £1,103              3.94%

Gillingham                    £220,798           £938                 3.94%

Harlow                          £272,072           £1,026               3.82%

Maidstone                    £281,057            £895                  3.80%

Watford                         £376,718            £1,192               3.79%

Crawley                        £286,612            £1,028               3.71%

Luton                             £220,133            £794                  3.38%

Southend on Sea        £247,960            £819                  2.99%

How we calculated these yields – and an important note about our figures. We calculated these yields using the latest average price paid and average asking market rent figures from Zoopla correct as at June 2016. Stamp duty has not been included when calculating the property value.

Before purchasing a buy to let property it is always good practice to calculate yield yourself using a sensible estimate of what a property can be purchased for and a sensible (under) estimate of the likely achievable rent. Also take professional advice on these figures. Please note our figures are intended to be a general guide for would-be investors only …. we hope you find them interesting and helpful!