Best Short-Let Investment Locations 2026/27

You cannot do an honest "top 15 UK short-let locations" with full ADR, occupancy, RevPAR and net yields from free data alone. The granular numbers you want sit inside paid tools like AirDNA and Hostaway, and the public snippets only show high-level city averages.

What you can do on PropertyKiln is:

• Explain the shape of the 2026-27 short-let market post-FHL abolition.
• Show example numbers for a few key cities using the public data you do have.
• Be explicit that hosts should plug their own AirDNA numbers into the model.

1. What changed after FHL abolition (April 2025)

HMRC has now killed the FHL regime:

From 6 April 2025, furnished holiday lets are taxed like any other UK property business.

Key changes:

• Mortgage interest now falls under the Section 24-type restriction: you only get a basic-rate tax credit, not full deduction.
• Capital allowances on furniture are gone for new expenditure; you get normal replacement of domestic items instead.
• No more trading CGT reliefs (BADR, rollover, gift relief) on disposal.
• FHL profits no longer count as relevant earnings for pension contributions.

Net effect for you:

• A short-let now has no special UK-wide tax advantage over an AST.
• The earnings profile is still attractive (ADR x occupancy), but your tax bill is higher if you are a higher-rate taxpayer, and your net cashflow gap vs an AST has shrunk.

Your PropertyKiln line: "Short-lets are now an operational business choice, not a tax hack."

2. Regulatory environment in 2026-27

Big picture:

England: Short-term let registration scheme coming in 2026, starting voluntary then mandatory. New C5 planning use class for STLs proposed, plus local Article 4 directions to cap STLs in pressured areas.

London: 90-night rule remains: entire homes can be let short-term for up to 90 nights a year without planning permission. Exceeding that can lead to fines up to GBP 20,000+ and stricter enforcement as the registration scheme rolls out.

Scotland: Full STL licensing regime and control zones already live (Edinburgh being the big one).

Wales: Council tax premiums up to 300% on second homes and holiday lets in many councils, plus local planning restrictions.

For each location you cover, you should attach a regulatory risk level from Low (loose) through Medium (licensing) to High (caps, premiums, STL zones).

3. Example city-level short-let performance (public data)

London

Q4 2025 Beyond/Beyond Pricing UK markets summary:

• London: 65% occupancy, ADR GBP 231, highest UK ADR.

This implies:

• Annual nights: 365 x 65% = approximately 237 nights.
• Gross short-let revenue: 237 x GBP 231 = approximately GBP 54,747/year.

Typical 1-bed Zone-2 flat:

• Price: GBP 450,000.
• Long-term AST rent: GBP 2,000/month = GBP 24,000/year.
• Short-let gross: GBP 55k but with heavy costs and 90-night cap unless you have planning.

London is great for ADR and occupancy, but regulation and cap make it hard to monetise fully legally.

Manchester

Beyond 2025 UK holiday-let markets:

• Occupancy: 83% - "highest in the UK".
• ADR: GBP 100.
• RevPAN: GBP 85 (RevPAR per available night).

Annual:

• Nights: 365 x 83% = approximately 303 nights.
• Gross revenue: 303 x GBP 100 = approximately GBP 30,300/year.

Compare to AST:

• Typical 1-bed city flat: price ~GBP 220,000, AST rent ~GBP 1,000-1,100/month (~GBP 12,000-13,200/year).
• Short-let can be 2.3-2.5x the AST income, before extra costs.

Regulation is lighter than London right now, though local STL controls may follow.

Other key markets from Beyond/2025 data

Beyond 2025 report names other high-performers:

• Peak District: ADR GBP 287 (highest on list), Occupancy 47%, RevPAN GBP 148.
• Edinburgh, Bath, Lake District, Cornwall are all listed as strong UK holiday-let markets in industry blogs, but you need your own AirDNA pulls for precise ADR/occupancy.

Your page should use these example relationships:

• Bath / Cotswolds / Lake District / Cornwall: High ADR, moderate occupancy, strong seasonality.
• Manchester / Liverpool / Birmingham / Cardiff: Lower ADR but higher occupancy, more business/urban demand.

4. How to present each location on PropertyKiln

You cannot honestly publish city-level AirDNA numbers without logging in, but you can show the structure for each location and plug the figures in offline.

For each city/area:

• Property: typical 1-2 bed flat or small house at realistic 2025-26 prices from Land Registry/ONS.
• ADR: from AirDNA/Hostaway for that market.
• Occupancy: recent 12-month occupancy.
• Gross revenue: ADR x 365 x occupancy.
• Costs (short-let):
• Platform and management (20-25% of gross if you outsource).
• Cleaning and laundry (GBP X per stay).
• Utilities, Wi-Fi, council tax/NNDR, insurance.
• Extra maintenance and furnishing amortisation.
• Net income after all costs (pre-finance, pre-tax).
• AST comparison:
• Local AST rent from ONS/Zoopla.
• Net AST income after typical single-let costs.
• Regulatory risk:
• Caps (e.g. London 90-night rule).
• STL licensing (Scotland, some English cities).
• Council tax premiums (Wales).
• Conclusion: short-let vs AST for that city.

You then rank locations internally on net income uplift vs AST and regulatory risk.

5. What forums get wrong about short-lets in 2026-27

"FHL still gives you full interest relief and business CGT relief." Wrong from April 2025: FHL regime is abolished. Short-lets are now taxed like any other property business; Section 24-style restrictions apply.

"Short-lets always double your income vs AST." Manchester-type markets can give 2x+ AST income at the gross level. Once you strip 20-25% management and platform, cleaning per stay, higher utilities, council tax/NNDR, the net uplift in many cities is closer to 30-60%, not 100%+, and that is before tax.

"Regulation is just London's 90-day rule; everywhere else is easy." 2026: National registration scheme is coming for England's STLs. New C5 use class will let councils restrict STLs more easily. Scotland already has STL licensing and control zones. Wales can hammer second homes with up to 300% council tax premiums. London's 90-day cap is being more actively enforced as the registration data comes online.

"Short-lets are less risky because you can just drop back to AST." That is only true if the local AST market is strong enough at the purchase price you paid, and the property layout is sensible for long-term tenants, not just short-stay guests. Many SA-optimised one-beds/studios in certain blocks are over-priced for the AST market once you factor management and service charges.

"ADR and occupancy figures in blog posts are current." AirDNA and revenue-management companies publish top-10 lists that go stale quickly. Seasonality, new supply, and regulation can knock 10-20 percentage points off occupancy in a year. Any location ranking needs a "data as at" line (e.g. "12 months to Feb 2026").

For internal use, to get the detail you want:

For each candidate city/region (your list of 15):

• Pull ADR and occupancy for 1-bed and 2-bed units from AirDNA (12 months to the latest date).
• Pull local AST rent from ONS / HomeLet / Zoopla.
• Pull typical purchase price from Land Registry/ONS or PropertyData.

Build an internal spreadsheet:

• Short-let gross = ADR x 365 x occupancy.
• Short-let costs:
• Management/platform: 20-25% of gross.
• Cleaning: stays x fee (use average stay length from AirDNA).
• Utilities, council tax, insurance, repairs, marketing.
• Short-let net before finance.
• AST net before finance.
• Net uplift = (Short-let net / AST net) - 1.

Layer regulatory risk:

• London central: high (90-day limit, STL registration, potential C5 use class).
• Edinburgh, some Scottish councils: high (STL licensing and control zones).
• Cornwall/Devon/Wales: medium-high (council tax premiums, planning changes).
• Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff, Brighton, Bath, York, Bristol, Lake District: medium (local policies, but no blanket cap yet).

Rank:

Disqualify or heavily down-weight any market where net uplift vs AST is <25% or regulatory risk is "very high" and you do not want to encourage new entrants.

Pick top 15 where net uplift is attractive, regulation is manageable, and you can stomach the operational work.

Then your public-facing page says: "These rankings are based on AirDNA/Hostaway data for the 12 months to [month 2026] and will be updated annually."

That is both accurate and differentiated from the course blogs.

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