Published on 19 September 2025
Yet, the flip side is that with properties across prime central London available to buy below asking prices, and rates rising, average yields are improving. Gross average yields have increased from 3.27 per cent in January 2022 to 4.49 per cent in August this year, according to Knight Frank.
This is tempting the odd professional investor back into the market again, says Charles Curran of Maskells, who says that a two-bedroom flat on Wilton Place, SW1, purchased for £2mn and let for £120,000 a year, provides a 6 per cent gross yield. “Buy-to-let is beginning to look attractive again for those looking for yield, not liquidity.”
It adds little gleam to the path of the accidental landlords, however, whose primary objective is often to sell. Patel’s dalliance with landlording is an agile response to a sluggish market, not a long-term plan. “It only takes one thing to get broken to wipe out my profit margin, but it’s better than just sitting on an empty, unsold property,” he says. “I will put it back up for sale when the market improves.”
Read the full article in Financial Times