Landlords make more money from students in Edinburgh than anywhere else in the UK.
New research has found four of the top five most profitable locations for landlords can be found in Scotland.
Property site Zoopla looked at where investors can get the best return from buying up properties near universities and letting them out to students.
In Edinburgh, buy-to-let investors can expect a rental yield - the annual rental income as a percentage of property value - of 6.11 per cent for doing so, while in fifth-placed Glasgow the yield is 5.07 per cent.
Aberdeen is the third most profitable at 5.66 per cent and after that is Dundee with a yield of 5.11 per cent.
Rent levels vary also, with the cost of renting a four-bedroom property in Edinburgh sitting at £2,171 compared to Glasgow which is £1,187, Dundee at £1,029 and Aberdeen at £1,912.
Lawrence Hall of Zoopla said: "Scottish university cities are currently offering fantastic returns for UK landlords.
"Many Scottish universities are now internationally renowned, with thriving undergraduate and graduate environments.
"This means demand for rental accommodation in university areas is very high, as throngs of students compete to live near their campuses.
"Combined with Scottish house prices still remaining relatively low, this equates to excellent yields."
Coventry in second place is the only English city in the top five.
Some students have sought alternatives and one was the setting up of the Edinburgh Student Housing Co-operative, which took over two neighbouring blocks of student halls previously run by a private company.
The co-operative managed to lower rents by leasing the property from a housing association.
One of those involved in the co-op, Mike Shaw, was quoted as saying: "We wanted to demonstrate what student living should be about - affordable, secure and good quality accommodation that is democratic and self-managed."
Other measures include the creation of a new student village on the banks of the Water of Leith if new plans get the go-ahead.
The scheme would see two patches of land off Lanark Road at Longstone transformed into a complex of flats and studio rooms straddling either side of the river providing housing for around 250 students.
However, councillors and community groups have argued that those plans may not be appropriate for the area.
Previous research showed that overall Scottish universities were among the least expensive at which to study in the UK.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel