Landlord yields are edging up: What the latest rental figures mean for your portfolio
Rightmove's Rental Trends Tracker for Q2 2026, published in July, contains a detail that has received less attention than the headline rent figures but matters more for long-term portfolio assessment. Average gross landlord yields increased across every region tracked between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, with rises ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points. The direction is consistent across markets that are otherwise behaving quite differently from one another, and it reflects the combination of rising rents and, in many areas, relative stability in property values.
What the yield data shows
The national average gross yield for Great Britain excluding London reached 6.6% in Q2 2026, up 0.3 percentage points on the year. The North East recorded the highest regional yield at 8.4%, also up 0.3 points annually. The North West followed at 7.5%, Yorkshire and the Humber at 7.3%, and the East Midlands at 6.9%.
London recorded a gross yield of 6.0%, which represents a 0.3 percentage point annual increase, the joint largest uplift in the index despite London generating the lowest absolute yield of any region tracked. The South East and South West both recorded 6.3%.
These are gross figures, calculated from advertised asking rents against advertised sale prices, and they do not account for mortgage costs, management fees, maintenance, void periods, or tax. They serve as a directional indicator of portfolio income performance relative to asset values rather than a net return figure. What the trend confirms is that rental income growth has been outpacing any property price growth in most markets over the past twelve months, moving the income yield upward rather than being diluted by rising values.
The rent picture behind the yield movement
Average advertised rents outside London reached a new record of £1,397 per calendar month in Q2 2026, a 1.9% quarterly increase and 2.3% annual growth. This marks the first quarterly rent record since Q3 2025, following a flat Q1 2026. London also set a new record average rent of £2,791 per calendar month, its largest quarterly increase since 2023 at 2.0%, with annual growth of 2.9%.
Regional divergence in rent growth remains significant. The North East and North West both recorded annual increases of 4.1%, the strongest performance in the index. The East Midlands and East of England recorded the softest growth at 1.5%. The North West also recorded the highest enquiry rate per property at 14, reflecting the most pronounced demand-supply imbalance in England.
Affordability is providing a natural ceiling on rent growth nationally. Annual wage growth of 4.4% and increasing price-consciousness among renters, particularly in higher-cost markets, is keeping growth at sustainable levels rather than the double-digit trajectory recorded in 2022 and 2023.
The supply picture
One of the more significant data points in the Q2 report is the first drop in available rental supply below the previous year's level since 2022. Total available rental homes nationally are now 1% below the same point in 2025. The decline is attributed primarily to a drop in newly listed rental properties rather than an acceleration in the speed of lettings, which suggests landlord exits or decisions not to re-let are beginning to reduce the pool of available stock.
Competition between tenants remains considerably below its peak. The average rental home received 10 enquiries in Q2 2026, compared to 11 a year ago and 22 at the height of market competition in 2022. The pre-pandemic average was 5 enquiries per property, so the market is still running at double historical norms, but the intensity has eased substantially from its peak.
The buy-to-let mortgage rate context
Rightmove's daily buy-to-let mortgage tracker placed the average two-year fixed buy-to-let rate with no fee at 5.55% in Q2 2026, down from 5.67% the previous month but up from 5.20% a year earlier. For landlords approaching remortgage or considering new purchases, the directional easing in BTL rates over recent months provides a modestly improving backdrop against which yield calculations can be made, though rates remain meaningfully higher than in 2021 and 2022.
For an existing landlord reviewing portfolio performance, the combination of rising rents, improving gross yields, and supply beginning to tighten again provides a more constructive picture than the previous two years of cost pressure suggested. The regional divergence in both rent growth and yield levels means the portfolio-level picture varies considerably depending on where properties are held.
Talk to our lettings team about managing your portfolio