Buy-to-let in Dorset
Yields, prices, demand and local risks for Dorset, covering Beaminster, Blandford Forum, Bridport and 12 more ranked towns.
Dorset in figures
- Gross rental yield
- 4.2% to 4.7%
- By kind of home, across Dorset
- Entry price, across its towns
- £230,000 to £330,000
- The cheapest postcode district's median sale
- Price move, 12 months
- +1.8%
- UK House Price Index, across Dorset
- Price move, 10 years
- +28.9%
- UK House Price Index, across Dorset
- Population
- 391,036
- Dorset, +3.5% growth
- Terraced houses across Dorset let for £1,040/mo against a median sale of £268,000 there: 4.7% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
- ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £1,056/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
- Prices across Dorset rose 1.8% over the last year on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, which is measured for the whole local authority.
- Prices +29% over ten years (Dorset)
- £19,150 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £291,500 buy-to-let
- 1 regeneration award (Dorset)
- 1,601 homes added across Dorset
- Band D £2,765 (Dorset)
- 1.2% long-term empty across Dorset
- +21% five-year forecast for South West as a whole (Savills), not this area
These figures are from Clarity's monthly ranking dataset, one method across every place so they compare. The Dorset report measures the area in more depth over its own twelve months, so its figures are the ones to quote.
What sits behind the figures
Prices across Dorset moved +28.9% over ten years on the UK House Price Index.
Employee jobs across Dorset moved +6.6% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).
63% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Beaminster's postcode districts are below band C (2,381 certificates). Clarity measures areas rather than individual homes, so this is the share of the local stock likely to need energy-efficiency work before it meets a band C standard, not a survey of any one property.
A buy-to-let at £291,500 pays £19,150 in Stamp Duty Land Tax, including the 5% surcharge on additional homes.
The five-year forecast quoted above (Savills, South West) is a regional figure for South West as a whole, not a forecast for Dorset, and Clarity does not rank on it.
Towns in Dorset
| Town | Entry price | Gross yield | Tenant demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beaminster | £291,500 | 4.7%terraced houses | 5/10 |
| Blandford Forum | £291,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.9/10 |
| Bridport | £275,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.8/10 |
| Dorchester | £274,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 5/10 |
| Ferndown | £290,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.9/10 |
| Lyme Regis | £317,000 | 4.2%semi-detached houses | 5.2/10 |
| Portland | £230,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.1/10 |
| Shaftesbury | £245,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.5/10 |
| Sherborne | £275,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.8/10 |
| Sturminster Newton | £276,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.7/10 |
| Swanage | £322,500 | 4.2%semi-detached houses | 5.2/10 |
| Verwood | £275,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.8/10 |
| Wareham | £310,000 | 4.2%semi-detached houses | 5.1/10 |
| Weymouth | £235,000 | 4.7%terraced houses | 4.5/10 |
| Wimborne | £330,000 | 4.2%semi-detached houses | 5.2/10 |
Each yield is Dorset's, for the kind of home that town's prices point to, and the year's price move is measured across Dorset as a whole, so towns pointing to the same kind of home share a yield.
The Dorset report
The full report measures Dorset from its own sales: sold prices and rents for each type of home, the year's price move, crime per resident and worker, flood risk, planning designations, housing delivery and regeneration funding, with a worked buy-to-let deal on your own budget. This edition was built in October 2026.
Read the cover of the Dorset report, free, with its headline figures, before you decide.
You own this report
The latest Clarity PDF report for Dorset, monthly rebuilds included.
Read a full Liverpool report, free to see everything a report contains.
Compare it with everywhere else
The investment map ranks Dorset against every other place we cover, on your own budget and strategy. Questions about the figures or about us are answered here.
Sources and further reading
- HM Land Registry: UK House Price Index
- HM Land Registry: Price Paid Data (England and Wales)
- Registers of Scotland: property market statistics (Scotland)
- ONS: Price Index of Private Rents
- ONS: Population estimates
- ONS: Business Register and Employment Survey
- MHCLG: Energy Performance of Buildings Data (England and Wales)
- HMRC: Stamp Duty Land Tax