Reading: prices, rent and yield
A screening page from official averages. It is not a listings catalogue and not a forecast.
Not financial advice. The yield is a gross figure from two official averages. It is not profit, and it is not the price of a particular house.
The highest gross yield in this set before rounding, level with Slough at one decimal place. The average price fell 0.4% over the year.
Official averages
Gross yield = £1,582 × 12 ÷ £350,501 = 5.4%. The same formula is used on every area page.
Sold prices in Reading
Standard (category A) Price Paid sales in RG1, RG2, RG4, RG30, RG31, from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026 (latest sale in this extract: 28 September 2026). Postcode districts RG1, RG2, RG4, RG30 and RG31. Price Paid does not include bedroom counts, so these are by property type only.
Estimated gross yield on the UK HPI average is 5.4%. Sold-median yield, using the same £1,582 average rent against this median of £370,250, is 5.1%.
| Type | Sales | Median | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|
| All (D/S/T/F) | 2,118 | £370,250 | £410,025 |
| Detached | 348 | £637,500 | £697,744 |
| Semi-detached | 572 | £426,750 | £453,291 |
| Terraced | 681 | £350,000 | £360,427 |
| Flat / maisonette | 517 | £225,000 | £233,819 |
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data yearly files for 2025 and 2026, updated 28 October 2026. Standard (category A) sales only. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How the score is worked out
One shared formula (AreaMarketCatalog.Score) powers town guides, the Maidenhead briefing, and the Is it worth it? buy-to-let tab via PropertyScreen.Screen. Yield is 30 points, scaled to the highest yield in the published set. The 12-month price change is 20 points, mapped from −3% to +3%. Monthly cash flow at a 25% deposit is 20 points, mapped from −£500 to +£500. The lender stress test is 15 points: 7.5 if a company passes a 125% interest-cover test, and 7.5 if a personal basic-rate taxpayer passes 145%, both at a 7.5% stress rate. The share of EPCs rated D or below is 15 points where that share is published; otherwise the other 85 points are scaled to 100. Commute time is not in the score.
| Factor | Weight | Points | Working |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross yield | 30.0 | 30.0 | Scaled to the highest gross yield in the published set. |
| 12-month price change | 20.0 | 8.7 | Mapped from −3% (0) to +3% (full points). |
| Monthly cash flow | 20.0 | 17.5 | Monthly cash flow at a 25% deposit and 5.5% interest-only, before running costs: £377. Mapped from −£500 (0) to +£500 (20). |
| Lender stress test | 15.0 | 0.0 | Stress rate 7.5% (pay rate plus 2 percentage points, and at least 5.5%). Interest cover 0.96×. Company ICR 125%: fails (7.5). Personal basic-rate ICR 145%: fails (7.5). |
| EPCs rated D or below | 15.0 | 0.0 | No published share of EPCs rated D or below is held for this area, so this factor is left out. |
| Total | 100 | 66 | EPC is not scored for this area, so the other 85 points are scaled to 100. The points in the table are before that scaling. Headline score 66. |
Cash flow and the stress test use the £350,501 average price and £1,582 average rent, 25% deposit, 5.5% interest-only, before running costs. The same cash figure is £116,675 once stamp duty and the £4,000 fee allowance are added.
Cash for the average purchase
Assumptions, the same ones as the calculator: 25% deposit, England additional-property stamp duty from 1 April 2025, and a £4,000 allowance for legal, survey and mortgage fees. Change them in the calculator.
| Average price | £350,501 |
| Deposit at 25% | £87,625 |
| Additional-property stamp duty | £25,050 |
| Fee allowance | £4,000 |
| Cash needed | £116,675 |
Stamp duty bands: residential SDLT and the additional-property higher rates. This is an illustration, not a calculation of your tax.
London access
Within about an hour of London on the Great Western main line. This site does not yet have a timetable extract for Reading, so journey minutes are not used in the score.
The same measure, every area
| Area | Average price | 12-month | Average rent | Yield | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | £350,501 | −0.4% | £1,582 | 5.4% | 66 |
| Slough | £349,397 | +0.4% | £1,567 | 5.4% | 69 |
| Bracknell Forest | £391,521 | −2.3% | £1,481 | 4.5% | 47 |
| Buckinghamshire | £477,450 | 0.0% | £1,486 | 3.7% | 44 |
| Maidenhead | £583,688 | −0.2% | £1,801 | 3.7% | 44 |
Sources: UK House Price Index, August 2026; ONS local housing page for Reading; ONS housing prices in your area, updated 21 October 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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Opens at the official average price and rent, 25% deposit, 5.5% interest-only. Change any figure.
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