Buy-to-let in East Devon
Yields, prices, demand and local risks for East Devon, covering Axminster, Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth and 4 more ranked towns.
East Devon in figures
- Gross rental yield
- 4.1% to 4.5%
- By kind of home, across East Devon
- Entry price, across its towns
- £229,000 to £320,000
- The cheapest postcode district's median sale
- Price move, 12 months
- +0.1%
- UK House Price Index, across East Devon
- Price move, 10 years
- +38.6%
- UK House Price Index, across East Devon
- Population
- 159,637
- East Devon, +7.4% growth
- Terraced houses across East Devon let for £970/mo against a median sale of £259,000 there: 4.5% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
- ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £968/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
- Prices across East Devon rose 0.1% over the last year on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, which is measured for the whole local authority.
- Prices +39% over ten years (East Devon)
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 5.2% of jobs against 1.4% across Great Britain (East Devon)
- £14,230 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £239,000 buy-to-let
- 690 homes added across East Devon
- Band D £2,595 (East Devon)
- 0.7% long-term empty across East Devon
- +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 East Devon 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 East Devon moved +38.6% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and prices are at or near their highest.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing is 5.2% of employee jobs in East Devon, against 1.4% across Great Britain (3,000 jobs in 2015, 3,000 in 2024). Where one industry carries that much of a local economy, rents and prices tend to move with it. Employee jobs across East Devon moved +16.0% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).
56% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Axminster's postcode districts are below band C (5,079 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 £239,000 pays £14,230 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 East Devon, and Clarity does not rank on it.
Towns in East Devon
| Town | Entry price | Gross yield | Tenant demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axminster | £239,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 4.7/10 |
| Budleigh Salterton | £312,000 | 4.1%semi-detached houses | 5.6/10 |
| Exmouth | £271,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 5.1/10 |
| Honiton | £229,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 4.6/10 |
| Ottery St Mary | £265,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 5.1/10 |
| Seaton | £250,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 5/10 |
| Sidmouth | £320,000 | 4.1%semi-detached houses | 5.5/10 |
Each yield is East Devon's, for the kind of home that town's prices point to, and the year's price move is measured across East Devon as a whole, so towns pointing to the same kind of home share a yield.
The East Devon report
The full report measures East Devon 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 East Devon report, free, with its headline figures, before you decide.
You own this report
The latest Clarity PDF report for East Devon, monthly rebuilds included.
Read a full Liverpool report, free to see everything a report contains.
Compare it with everywhere else
The investment map ranks East Devon 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