If 2024 can deliver this – a return to more historical norms – then investors could expect a simpler and more intuitive interaction between supply and demand. Given the strength of demand in the UK and the continuing shortfalls in supply, average values – capital and rental – should then rise at a steady and sustainable rate.

In the final months of 2023, we’ve been seeing some encouraging signs from the UK economy and from the residential property market in particular. Now is therefore an obvious time to review how the housing market has fared over the last 12 months, and to consider what might lie ahead in 2024.

A recent survey of a thousand UK landlords has indicated growing confidence within the buy-to-let market, particularly amongst landlords who maintain portfolios of five or more properties.

The results suggest that despite the gloomy headlines in a number of tabloids, those who are most seriously committed to the sector recognise that prospects for investors are improving steadily. In this article, we’ll examine why that’s the case….

Loughborough is a town of modest size. The 2021 Census estimated that the population of the local urban area was around 109,100, but the town itself has considerably fewer residents. Nevertheless, it boasts many features that make it an excellent choice for property investors. In 2021, for example, the Loughborough Town Deal Board wrote that the town was experiencing rapid growth, noting that “the population is expected to increase from 67,000 at present to more than 80,000 during the 2030s; a pace over double the national average.”

Investors welcomed the news, essentially because of what it might signal. In itself, 5.25% still represents a 15-year high, and the Bank of England has said that it expects the rate to remain elevated for some considerable time yet. In other words, the present conditions remain challenging, but the mere fact that the MPC chose not to raise the Bank Rate last month gave investors grounds for optimism.

Now, in the wake of the Prime Minister’s announcement, investors are faced with a different but more familiar prospect: many small infrastructure schemes creating a wider variety of opportunities in more tightly defined local markets. It’s a situation that might look considerably less dramatic but it could generate more widespread benefits than HS2, with fewer risks and in a shorter timeframe.

Often, investors must make choices that depend on their priorities – i.e. whether they want to maximise capital growth or rental returns. Now, however, all the key data sources are pointing in the same direction: the country’s more affordable regions not only hold the greatest promise of capital growth; they should also deliver the best rental yields over the coming years.