Buy-to-let in Orkney Islands

Orkney Islands in figures

Gross rental yield

5.6%

On terraced houses across Orkney Islands

Entry price

£145,000

The cheapest postcode district's median sale

Homes below EPC band C

64%

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

Population

21,920

Orkney Islands, -0.2% growth

• Terraced houses across Orkney Islands let for GBP 753/mo against a median sale of GBP 162,500 there: 5.6% gross before costs, on ONS rents and Registers of Scotland's 2024 sold prices for the whole council area. The entry price, GBP 145,000, is the council's 2025 lower quartile.
• The council area's median sale was GBP 190,000 across 325 sales in 2025, the last complete calendar year Registers of Scotland have published.
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing is 17.3% of employee jobs in Orkney Islands, against 1.4% across Great Britain; 2,250 jobs in 2015 and 2,250 in 2024 (ONS BRES).

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 17.3% of jobs against 1.4% across Great Britain
• 64% of EPCs below band C
• 72% of private rentals below band C
• £11,600 LBTT, with the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement, on a £145,000 buy-to-let
• 1 regeneration award
• 21% 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 Orkney Islands 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

Agriculture, forestry and fishing is 17.3% of employee jobs in Orkney Islands, against 1.4% across Great Britain (2,250 jobs in 2015, 2,250 in 2024). Where one industry carries that much of a local economy, rents and prices tend to move with it. Employee jobs across Orkney Islands moved +8.3% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).

64% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Orkney Islands's postcode districts are below band C (6,744 certificates), and 72% 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 Orkney Islands, and Clarity does not rank on it.

The Orkney Islands report

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