Buy-to-let in St Albans
Yields, prices, demand and local risks for St Albans, covering Harpenden, St Albans.
St Albans in figures
- Gross rental yield
- 3.8%
- On terraced houses across St Albans
- Entry price, across its towns
- £465,000 to £625,000
- The cheapest postcode district's median sale
- Price move, 12 months
- +3.3%
- UK House Price Index, across St Albans
- Price move, 10 years
- +19.7%
- UK House Price Index, across St Albans
- Population
- 150,757
- St Albans, +1.5% growth
- Terraced houses across St Albans let for £1,800/mo against a median sale of £569,500 there: 3.8% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
- ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £1,931/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
- Prices here rose 3.3% over the last year on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, which is measured for the whole local authority.
- Prices +20% over ten years
- Employee jobs −14% 2015 to 2024
- £36,500 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £465,000 buy-to-let
- 381 homes added
- Band D £2,419
- 1.0% 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 St Albans 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 St Albans moved +19.7% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and prices are at or near their highest.
Employee jobs across St Albans moved −14.1% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).
49% of the energy performance certificates lodged across St Albans's postcode districts are below band C (38,818 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 £465,000 pays £36,500 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 St Albans, and Clarity does not rank on it.
Towns in St Albans
| Town | Entry price | Gross yield | Tenant demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harpenden | £625,000 | 3.8%terraced houses | 5.5/10 |
| St Albans | £465,000 | 3.8%terraced houses | 5.2/10 |
Each yield is St Albans's, for the kind of home that town's prices point to, and the year's price move is measured across St Albans as a whole, so towns pointing to the same kind of home share a yield.
The St Albans report
The full report measures St Albans 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 St Albans report, free, with its headline figures, before you decide.
You own this report
The latest Clarity PDF report for St Albans, monthly rebuilds included.
Read a full Liverpool report, free to see everything a report contains.
Compare it with everywhere else
The investment map ranks St Albans against every other place we cover, on your own budget and strategy. Questions about the figures or about us are answered here.
Sources and further reading
- HM Land Registry: UK House Price Index
- HM Land Registry: Price Paid Data (England and Wales)
- Registers of Scotland: property market statistics (Scotland)
- ONS: Price Index of Private Rents
- ONS: Population estimates
- ONS: Business Register and Employment Survey
- MHCLG: Energy Performance of Buildings Data (England and Wales)
- HMRC: Stamp Duty Land Tax