Buy-to-let in Reading

Reading in figures

Gross rental yield

5.5%

On terraced houses across Reading

Entry price

£290,000

The cheapest postcode district's median sale

Price move, 12 months

-0.2%

UK House Price Index, across Reading

Price move, 10 years

+16.7%

UK House Price Index, across Reading

Homes below EPC band C

49%

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

Population

183,762

Reading, +5.7% growth

• Terraced houses across Reading let for £1,610/mo against a median sale of £350,000 there: 5.5% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
• ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £1,574/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
• Prices here fell 0.2% over the last year on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, which is measured for the whole local authority.

• Prices +17% over ten years
• Information and communication: 17.2% of jobs against 4.4% across Great Britain
• 49% of EPCs below band C
• £19,000 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £290,000 buy-to-let
• 1 regeneration award
• 890 homes added
• 23% private rented (2021 census)
• 89% gigabit broadband
• 89% of 53 graded schools good or better
• Band D £2,613
• 1.1% long-term empty
• +17% five-year forecast for South East 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 Reading 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 Reading moved +16.7% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and prices are at or near their highest.

Information and communication is 17.2% of employee jobs in Reading, against 4.4% across Great Britain (15,000 jobs in 2015, 21,000 in 2024). Where one industry carries that much of a local economy, rents and prices tend to move with it. Employee jobs across Reading moved +18.4% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).

49% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Reading's postcode districts are below band C (114,679 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 £290,000 pays £19,000 in Stamp Duty Land Tax, including the 5% surcharge on additional homes.

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

The Reading report

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