Welcome to the Bricksmart blog
Why we're writing, what we're writing about, and the one promise we're making on every post. Every statistic links to its source.
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Bricksmart blog
UK property, unpicked by the people building Bricksmart
Market reads, HMO deep-dives, policy notes and buying guides. Every statistic links to its source (HMLR, Companies House, MHCLG EPC) so you can check our working.
Northern England's rent lead is fading at the front door
Official figures still have the North East and North West growing fastest. New listings say the momentum has moved to the Midlands and Scotland.
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Rental growth has left London
The North East is now England's fastest-growing rental market at 6.5% a year, and London is the slowest at 2.0%. Eight years of official data show how the growth story moved from the capital to the regions.
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Bricks beat inflation, mostly
Since 1987 UK house prices have risen 6.6 times while the cost of living rose 4 times. But not always. After the early-90s crash, prices fell behind inflation for years.
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The HMO appraisal used to take a week
We ran a three-bed house in Stoke-on-Trent through Bricksmart's HMO appraisal. In seconds it showed that a six-room HMO could earn almost four times the monthly cashflow of a standard let.
Sayu