Bucking The Trend: An Opportune Time to Invest in Property

The latest HM Revenue and Customs survey published in May 2025 has found that one in five landlords plan to sell up in the next 12 months and 33% within five years. This is a consequence of tighter regulations, higher costs, tax changes and more rights for tenants. This is hardly an upbeat commentary for landlords or their letting agents. However, many landlords with a medium to longer term investment profile are seeing this as a great opportunity to buy. In an environment of falling interest rates and rising rents as demand continues to outstrip supply, landlords are benefitting from high yields and a strong rental market, with minimal void periods.  

At Dwello, we are actively working with several landlords seeking to acquire portfolios of six or more properties which we have secured on their behalf.  Those portfolio landlords can benefit from a portfolio discount to market value and tax reliefs in the form of Multiple Dwellings Relief and £Nil Additional Dwelling Supplement. 

To bring some of this to life, I have prepared a 5-year cashflow for one of those investors this week. At an acquisition price for six flats in attractive Glasgow locations at circa £1m and initial annual rent of £80k, after the deduction of finance costs, management and factor charges, compliance and repairs and maintenance, and with modest annual rental growth assumptions, the gross yield in year 5 is over 9% and net yield after costs of circa 5%. Coupled with the forecast growth in the capital value of these properties at over 25% over that period (source: Savills UK Housing Market Update May 2025), this makes for a very attractive investment for an investor seeking to grow or to diversify their investment portfolio. Indeed, Savills concluded that over the last year, house price growth was highest in Scotland.

For buyers who are in the market for single properties and unfortunately cannot access these tax reliefs, I would contend that the case for investment remains strong for an acquisition at the right price in the right area, where capital growth in the medium term negates the additional taxation on purchase, while the investor benefits from an increasing running yield on an ongoing basis. As important as the falling mortgage costs, in March the Bank of England announced a change in the way affordability stress tests could be conducted, which has already enabled the borrower to borrow up to 13% more.  

Dwello is able to support on all aspects of such an investment transaction including: identifying and securing the properties, managing the deal process, providing a turnkey solution so that the properties are income producing from day one, asset managing the properties on an ongoing basis, and preparing financial information that provides full transparency on the investment performance. This is after all how our founding member Stephen McKechnie has successfully grown his own portfolios. We have done this before, many times.

We would be delighted to hear from you if this is something that you would like to explore further with us. Get in touch with us today – 0141 357 3579.