Buy-to-let in East Lothian

East Lothian in figures

Gross rental yield

7.2%

On terraced houses across East Lothian

Entry price

£207,000

The cheapest postcode district's median sale

Price move, 12 months

+0.5%

UK House Price Index, across East Lothian

Price move, 10 years

+51.0%

UK House Price Index, across East Lothian

Homes below EPC band C

32%

Of lodged certificates, a proxy for the condition of the stock

Population

116,460

East Lothian, +6.3% growth

• Terraced houses across East Lothian let for GBP 1,415/mo against a median sale of GBP 235,000 there: 7.2% gross before costs, on ONS rents and Registers of Scotland's 2024 sold prices for the whole council area. The entry price, GBP 207,000, is the council's 2025 lower quartile.
• The council area's median sale was GBP 277,000 across 2,584 sales in 2025, the last complete calendar year Registers of Scotland have published.
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing is 5.0% of employee jobs in East Lothian, against 1.4% across Great Britain; 1,500 jobs in 2015 and 1,750 in 2024 (ONS BRES).

• Prices +51% over ten years
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 5.0% of jobs against 1.4% across Great Britain
• 32% of EPCs below band C
• 56% of private rentals below band C
• £17,800 LBTT, with the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement, on a £207,000 buy-to-let
• 1 regeneration award
• 83% gigabit broadband
• +28% five-year forecast for Scotland 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 Lothian 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 Lothian moved +51.0% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and prices are at or near their highest.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing is 5.0% of employee jobs in East Lothian, against 1.4% across Great Britain (1,500 jobs in 2015, 1,750 in 2024). Where one industry carries that much of a local economy, rents and prices tend to move with it. Employee jobs across East Lothian moved +16.7% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).

32% of the energy performance certificates lodged across East Lothian's postcode districts are below band C (30,920 certificates), and 56% of privately rented homes. 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.

The five-year forecast quoted above (Savills, Scotland) is a regional figure for Scotland as a whole, not a forecast for East Lothian, and Clarity does not rank on it.

The East Lothian report

The full report measures East Lothian 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 Lothian report, free, with its headline figures, before you decide.

Read a full Liverpool report, free to see everything a report contains.

Compare it with everywhere else

The investment map ranks East Lothian against every other place we cover, on your own budget and strategy. Questions about the figures or about us are answered here.