City centre landlords are cashing in as surging tenant demand means yields have jumped this year.

So far in 2021, the average investor purchasing a buy-to-let in a city achieved a gross yield of 5.3pc, according to Hamptons estate agents. This was boost of 0.6 percentage points from 2020, when returns slumped in the wake of the pandemic.

By contrast, rental yields of properties in the countryside fell 0.2 points due to rapid house price growth in the past year.