Buy-to-let in Luton

Luton in figures

Gross rental yield

5.2%

On terraced houses across Luton

Entry price

£274,000

The cheapest postcode district's median sale

Price move, 12 months

+0.3%

UK House Price Index, across Luton

Price move, 10 years

+31.0%

UK House Price Index, across Luton

Homes below EPC band C

53%

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

Population

236,380

Luton, +5.5% growth

• Terraced houses across Luton let for £1,220/mo against a median sale of £280,000 there: 5.2% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
• ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £1,222/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
• Prices here rose 0.3% over the last year on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, which is measured for the whole local authority.

• Prices +31% over ten years
• Administrative and support service activities: 29.1% of jobs against 8.4% across Great Britain
• 53% of EPCs below band C
• £17,400 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £274,000 buy-to-let
• 2 regeneration awards
• 346 homes added
• 28% private rented (2021 census)
• 94% gigabit broadband
• 86% of 36 graded schools good or better
• Band D £2,440
• 1.8% long-term empty
• +19% five-year forecast for East of England 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 Luton 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 Luton moved +31.0% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and prices are at or near their highest.

Administrative and support service activities is 29.1% of employee jobs in Luton, against 8.4% across Great Britain (15,000 jobs in 2015, 32,000 in 2024). Where one industry carries that much of a local economy, rents and prices tend to move with it. Employee jobs across Luton moved +23.6% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).

53% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Luton's postcode districts are below band C (67,082 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 £274,000 pays £17,400 in Stamp Duty Land Tax, including the 5% surcharge on additional homes.

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

The Luton report

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