Buy-to-let in City of Edinburgh

City of Edinburgh in figures

Gross rental yield

6.0%

On flats across Edinburgh

Entry price

£205,660

The cheapest postcode district's median sale

Price move, 12 months

+3.2%

UK House Price Index, across Edinburgh

Price move, 10 years

+51.1%

UK House Price Index, across Edinburgh

Homes below EPC band C

32%

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

Population

531,370

Edinburgh, +4.3% growth

• Flats across Edinburgh let for GBP 1,222/mo against a median sale of GBP 242,500 there: 6.0% gross before costs, on ONS rents and Registers of Scotland's 2024 sold prices for the whole council area. The entry price, GBP 205,660, is the council's 2025 lower quartile.
• The council area's median sale was GBP 279,995 across 11,304 sales in 2025, the last complete calendar year Registers of Scotland have published.
• Financial and insurance activities is 11.3% of employee jobs in Edinburgh, against 3.3% across Great Britain; 35,000 jobs in 2015 and 42,000 in 2024 (ONS BRES).

• Prices +51% over ten years (Edinburgh)
• Financial and insurance activities: 11.3% of jobs against 3.3% across Great Britain (Edinburgh)
• 32% of EPCs below band C
• 34% of private rentals below band C
• £17,666 LBTT, with the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement, on a £205,660 buy-to-let
• 1 regeneration award (Edinburgh)
• 92% 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 City of Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh moved +51.1% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and prices are at or near their highest.

Financial and insurance activities is 11.3% of employee jobs in Edinburgh, against 3.3% across Great Britain (35,000 jobs in 2015, 42,000 in 2024). Where one industry carries that much of a local economy, rents and prices tend to move with it. Employee jobs across Edinburgh moved +14.4% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).

32% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Edinburgh's postcode districts are below band C (157,988 certificates), and 34% 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 Edinburgh, and Clarity does not rank on it.

The City of Edinburgh report

The full report measures City of Edinburgh 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 City of Edinburgh 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 City of Edinburgh against every other place we cover, on your own budget and strategy. Questions about the figures or about us are answered here.