Across England and Wales, rental yields for buy-to-let landlords have continued to climb, and certain regions remain standout investment hotspots, according to new research by Fleet Mortgages.

The lender says that at the top when it comes to yields is the north east, where landlords can reap an average return of 10.1%. This is up by 1.6% annually, as yields in this region in Q2 last year were 8.5%, which is still a very high average.

The second highest region in the country for rental yields was the north west, which has seen an increase of 0.9% year-on-year, bringing the average to 8.4% now. Wales (8.3%), West Midlands (8%), Yorkshire and Humberside (7.6%) and the East Midlands (7.5%) made up the next four top regions, all being located in or towards the north of the country.

Below this were the south west (6.9%), East Anglia (6.8%), the south east (6.4%) and Greater London at the bottom with an average of 6.1%, while the average across England and Wales as a whole was 7.6% – up from 6.6% this time last year.