The average buy-to-let landlord made £80,000 profit from selling their rental property in 2018, new figures show.
Landlords in London made on average £248,120, almost three times as much as those selling outside the capital, according to the research by Hamptons International, part of Countrywide.
According to the figures published on Monday, 85% of landlords sold their buy-to-let last year for more than they paid for it. But these profits were on average down £3,660 – 4.4% – when compared with the £83,430 average gross gain landlords made in 2017.
The research, which analysed data from rental properties in England and Wales, found the average pre-tax profit earned by a landlord who sold-up fell in five out of 10 regions between 2018 and 2017 as house price growth slowed.
Landlords in the North East were most likely to sell at a loss, with just 56% selling their buy-to-lets at a profit. Even then the average gain of £11,810 was £4,270 less than in 2017, the smallest average gain in England and Wale.
Average gains increased between 2017 and 2018 in the South West (£3,460), East Midlands (£2,020), North West (£400), Yorkshire & the Humber (£4,490) and Wales (£5,340), but it was a different story in four local authorities in England and Wales; South Tyneside (49%), Sunderland (48%), Darlington (45%) and Middlesbrough (43%), landlords were more likely to sell their buy-to-let for less than they paid for it last year.
Landlords in London and the South East were most likely to sell their buy-to-let for more than they bought it for it, with 96% of landlords making a profit in 2018. Landlords selling in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea made the biggest pre-tax profit, averaging £1,072,880, having owned their property for 10.6 years.
South Bucks was the region outside of the capital with the highest average gain of £278,310.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said: “The average landlord who sold their buy-to-let last year did so for nearly £80,000 more than they paid for it. Over the 9.6 years that the average landlord has owned their buy-to-let, house price growth has driven their gains, with prices having risen around 30% over the period. But given lower expected future house price growth and tighter mortgage regulation, more investors are shifting their focus from capital gains to yields.”
