The NGU Homes Team

A London landlord sent us his numbers last week, convinced his agent had got the sums wrong. Four percent gross, barely three net, on a flat worth half a million pounds. We checked. The agent was right. London was the problem....

A landlord asked us this week: "I've decided to buy in the North East, what's this surcharge going to cost me?" On a typical £150,000 purchase, £8,000, and it catches out first time landlords more than any other cost in the...

Never buy an investment property in your personal name. That's the blunt version. Here's the maths behind it. You can only claim a flat 20% credit on your mortgage interest. A limited company deducts the whole thing before tax....

Middlesbrough's average house price is up just 1.1% this year, while rent has grown 7.8%. That gap is unusually wide, and it's exactly what's driving some of the strongest yields anywhere in the region. To put that in context, UK...

Sunderland's average house price is up 6.0% this year, while rent has grown 4.4%. That's nearly double the UK's own growth rate of 3.8% over the same period, and the low entry prices here mean the yields still stack up well for...

Maximising property wealth means getting both sides of the equation right: growth and yield. Gateshead is currently delivering on both. Gateshead's average house price is up 6.9% this year - nearly double the UK's own growth rate...

Rents in Newcastle have moved a lot faster than house prices over the past year. Average rent is up 10.3% - more than three times the UK's own rent growth of just 3.3% - while house prices have risen a more modest 5.0%. That gap...

Northumberland house prices up 8.3% - the fastest growth and highest prices in the North East Northumberland's house prices are up 8.3% this year, while rent has grown 6.5%. That's not just the highest average price in the North...

Hartlepool's house prices are up a modest 2.8% this year, while rent has barely moved at all, up just 0.1%. Growth here is slower than elsewhere in the region - but the entry prices are so low that the yield picture still stacks...

HMRC will let you knock £1,000 off your rental income with zero receipts, zero records, zero questions. Most landlords have never even heard of it, and the taxman certainly isn't going to be the one to tell you. It's called the...