21.05.2020 | 6 minutes estimated reading time | Print this article

Which UK cities are the best to invest in? Data reveals the perfect locations to start a business or buy a house

Location is a fundamental aspect of investing in a business or buying a home. From consumer demand, competition and business survival rates to employment, salary and even schooling, a lot can affect why you invest somewhere.

Whatever your new venture, we at Raisin UK are here to help. We analysed the largest cities across the United Kingdom, evaluating the working population, the rates of business survival over one year, the variance in house price changes, the amount of people per job opening and the price of office space per square foot in order to find the best cities to invest in.

Top 5 cities to invest in; with Leicester in the top spot

5. Brighton and Hove

Brighton seaside

Photo by Ben Guerin

The seaside city of Brighton and Hove is known for its beautiful scenery and close proximity to London. A vibrant and thriving city that maintains a community feel, it is well sought after by those looking to settle down and those looking to start a business, so it is no surprise that it made it into our top 5. An affluent city with a passion for supporting independent, creative and new businesses, and this is reflected in the 90.3% business survival rate. A flourishing digital and tech industry means that new businesses are escalating alongside house prices, which have increased by 17%, showing Brighton and Hove is on the up.

Working population

206,515

Business survival

90.3%

House price changes

17.0%

Job claimant rate

0.2

Office £ per sq.ft

£31.24

4. Chester

Chester

Photo by Nate K

Home to beautiful architecture, Chester is the perfect place to invest in. Well connected with public transport and motorways offering easy access to major cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, as well as the rest of the North West. A home in Chester could be ideal, and it’s also the perfect location to start a business, as more and more people look for prosperous areas to develop in outside of London. Chester’s working population is thriving as well, with a 90.6% business survival rate making it more likely to succeed.

Working population

206,509

Business survival

90.6%

House price changes

13.9%

Job claimant rate

0.3

Office £ per sq.ft

£14.94

3. Coventry

Coventry

Photo by Stuart Frisby

The city of culture for 2021, Coventry is going from strength to strength, making it the perfect place to invest in. As inward investments drive energy and community towards the growth of the city, more and more people are striving to see it succeed, with house prices following suit with a 28.1% increase. Known locally as Silicon Spa, Coventry is a hub for advanced manufacturing and gaming industries, making it the natural choice for some sectors, with a prosperous workforce of 245,227 leaving plenty of room for development.

Working population

245,227

Business survival

90.6%

House price changes

28.1%

Job claimant rate

0.4

Office £ per sq.ft

£38.69

2. Bristol

Bristol Clifton Suspension Bridge

Photo by Dean Moriarty

From idyllic landscapes to vibrant street art, Bristol is known for its culture and history of innovation. An amazing place for startups and SMEs, with survival rates over 1 year at 88.7%, Bristol is thriving with businesses to develop and experience to share. The exceptional universities on its doorstep mean that the bright and brilliant minds of the future will likely be looking for work in the area. The working population of 317,778 makes it an ideal area to invest in creative, tech and digital.

Working population

317,778

Business survival

88.7%

House price changes

26.4%

Job claimant rate

0.3

Office £ per sq.ft

£24.83

1. Leicester

Sunset view of town hall in Leicester, England

Photo by trabantos

Coming first place for the best city to invest in, Leicester has seen a resurgence in textile manufacturing alongside thriving automotive and transport industries. Ranking highly across the board thanks to an abundance of support for high-tech industries, Leicester should be high on your list if you are looking to establish a standing within these sectors. A diverse city with a hefty working population of 236,880, amazing transport links and vibrant culture, Leicester is the choice city for investment in the UK with a business survival rate 91.4% leaving it striving for success.

Working population

236,880

Business survival

91.4%

House price changes

28.3%

Job claimant rate

0.3

Office £ per sq.ft

£160.51

Kevin Mountford, Co-Founder of Raisin UK, said:

“Whether you’re buying a house or starting a business, when it comes to investing in something new, you have to weigh up the pros and cons, and location is a key factor in that. Using the Raisin UK city investment index you can find the most practical and profitable location for your business needs, encouraging the most successful outcome of your investment and hard-earned savings.”

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City investment index; the top 38 cities in the UK to start a business and invest in property

City

Country

Working population

Business survival

House price changes (2015-2019)

Job claimant rate

Office £ per sq.ft

1

Leicester

England

236,880

91.4%

+28.3%

0.3

£160.51

2

Bristol

England

317,778

88.7%

+26.4%

0.3

£24.83

3

Coventry

England

245,227

90.6%

+28.1%

0.4

£38.69

4

Chester

England

206,509

90.6%

+13.9%

0.3

£14.94

5

Brighton and Hove

England

206,515

90.3%

+17.0%

0.2

£31.24

6

Peterborough

England

124,930

87.6%

+26.5%

0.2

£17.25

7

Manchester

England

385,594

88.1%

+29.8%

0.3

£483.36

8

Southampton

England

172,921

88.8%

+16.4%

0.2

£31.55

9

Glasgow

Scotland

442,207

89.5%

+21.0%

0.8

£122.09

10

Edinburgh

Scotland

361,939

85.6%

+18.1%

0.3

£26.12

11

Leeds

England

514,422

86.4%

+20.1%

0.6

£27.17

12

Swansea

Wales

156,416

90.2%

+13.9%

0.4

£11.92

13

Liverpool

England

336,430

88.2%

+15.7%

0.8

£20.86

14

Plymouth

England

167,656

88.8%

+11.5%

0.4

£16.85

15

Sunderland

England

174,493

90.7%

+7.4%

1.0

£10.11

16

Stoke-on-Trent

England

160,091

88.6%

+17.4%

0.7

£12.30

17

Portsmouth

England

144,946

88.5%

+19.8%

0.5

£21.85

18

Winchester

England

74,962

89.8%

+11.7%

0.1

£33.53

19

Sheffield

England

383,197

88.6%

+16.9%

0.6

£134.17

20

Norwich

England

96,284

90.6%

+18.2%

0.5

£58.21

21

Derby

England

161,305

88.0%

+15.7%

0.4

£20.26

22

Birmingham

England

733,615

87.4%

+26.5%

1.0

£319.10

23

Cardiff

Wales

245,484

85.7%

+17.5%

0.4

£146.14

24

Kingston upon Hull

England

169,870

90.5%

+18.7%

1.4

£129.69

25

Wolverhampton

England

163,091

90.5%

+24.7%

0.9

£191.93

26

Belfast

Northern Ireland

223,776

84.0%

+19.2%

1.1

£20.47

27

Chichester

England

68,354

90.7%

+12.9%

0.3

£196.15

28

London

England

6,014,073

87.2%

+10.9%

0.4

£168.74

29

Nottingham

England

230,729

87.2%

+24.9%

0.9

£202.29

30

Salford

England

166,493

86.0%

+32.4%

0.6

£259.66

31

Worcester

England

65,931

87.8%

+16.4%

0.4

£23.77

32

Bradford

England

330,115

89.3%

+11.1%

0.7

£455.41

33

Newcastle upon Tyne

England

204,802

85.5%

+5.9%

0.4

£18.25

34

Cambridge

England

88,275

87.4%

+8.4%

0.3

£25.57

35

Preston

England

92,234

88.2%

+4.4%

0.3

£87.05

36

Oxford

England

108,311

86.9%

+8.3%

0.2

£1,007.28

37

Exeter

England

89,467

86.0%

+14.8%

0.3

£2,417.75

38

Aberdeen

Scotland

157,195

75.1%

-22.2%

0.5

£36.78


Ready to take the next step?

Whether you’re looking to start a business or buy a house in a new city, it’s never been more important to maximise your savings. With Raisin UK, you can compare savings accounts to find the best solution for you. All that’s left for you to do is sit back, relax and watch your money grow, thanks to the competitive interest rates provided by our partner banks.

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If you enjoyed this article, you may also like to read about the highest paying degrees in the UK.

 

Heading photo by Aswin Mahesh

Methodology

The city investment index was populated by the cities which fulfilled all data queries for evaluating the working population, the rates of business survival over 1 year, the variance in house price changes, the amount of people per job opening and the price of office space per square foot to find the best cities to invest in. Each city was allocated a ranking score out of 40 for each factor with an overall ranking out of 200 creating the index.

Sources

Workforce population (16-64)
MYE2: Population estimates: Persons by single year of age and sex for local authorities in the UK, mid-2018: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland

Businesses that opened in 2017 that survived their first year: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable

The average House Price % change from 2015-2019:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/uk-house-price-index-data-downloads-february-2020

Claimant Rate 2020
Figures based on Claimant rate – which shows for example, as of March 2020 Cambridge has 0.3 job vacancies per claimant – Adzuna

Average cost of office unit

Using the filters “Top 100”, “most popular”, offices – by city. Then calculated the average price per sq ft for the most popular 100 offices per city – Zoopla