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North East ?best place to invest?

A leading North East lettings agent has hailed the North East “the best place to invest in property in the UK” despite a list of the Britain’s buy-to-let hotspots ignoring the region.

Research published this week by HSBC named Southampton, Slough and Blackpoolas the best places in the UK for property investors – with nowhere in the North East featuring in the top 50.

Ajay Jagota of KIS Lettings, who manage properties for 700 landlords across the North East from branches in Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside, hit back at the report.

He said: “If you ask me, the North East is not just the best place to live, but the best place to invest in property in the UK.

“Coventry comes sixth in HSBC’s list – as a proud product of that fine city I’d have started my business there if I thought it was a significantly better area for investing in property than Newcastle, Sunderland, South Shields, Gateshead or North Shields.

“The ultimate insult is when HSBC go on to claim the best places to invest in property are university and seaside towns – we’re got five leading universities and we’re on the coast!

“While other parts of the country may offer higher rental yields than the North East, the region’s comparatively low property prices make it ideal for long-term investment, especially when landlords take steps to get tenants speedily in situ and to ensure successful, stress-fee tenancies.

“HSBC’s research seems to me to be very narrow in its focus, demonstrated in the author’s need to explain why London does so badly in the poll because of its high property prices at a time where the capital’s rental market seems to be soaring. This approach appears to equally skew the results against the North East.

“More research this week showed that home ownership levels are continuing to slide, showing that it continues to be a good time to invest in property wherever you choose to invest – as long as you do the appropriate research into that area and the market, which is where a high quality agent can be worth their weight in gold.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .