Astute investors will be aware how some residential markets in the UK have become saturated with rental units, causing high competition amongst a greater number of landlords and stagnating rent levels, writes Tony Booth.

The current situation demands investors take a much more cautious approach to where they invest, which in turn means acquiring good research data and sound advice on how different markets are performing has never been more important.

Identifying the next UK hotspot is not an easy or straightforward task and even the best and most experienced of investors can get it wrong. It is, however, essential in order to maximise both capital growth and rental income.

There are scores of different forecasting models available to investors. Most rely on fairly standard property data, tracking residential values and rents over a historic period.

Past no guide to future