Regional Market Updates
Birmingham HMO market update: summer 2026
12 June 2026 · 5 min read · Tom Hillier, Portfolio Director
Professional-share demand is outrunning supply in Digbeth and Edgbaston while Article 4 keeps new stock scarce. Where the rent growth is, street by street.
Birmingham remains the strongest multi-let market we operate in. Professional room rents across our managed stock are up 6.2 per cent year on year, with the sharpest growth in Digbeth and the city-fringe postcodes closest to the redeveloped canal corridor.
The city-wide Article 4 direction continues to restrict new small-HMO supply, which suppresses competition for existing licensed stock. For landlords already holding licensed properties this is straightforwardly good news; for buyers it means planning due diligence has to come before offer.
Selly Oak and Edgbaston still split cleanly between student and professional demand. Student stock lets earlier each year, with the 2026-27 cycle largely committed by February, while professional shares let year round and tolerate higher room rates for en-suite provision.
En suites are now the clearest pricing lever in the city. Across comparable properties, an en-suite room commands 70 to 95 pounds per month more than a shared-bathroom equivalent and re-lets materially faster.
Our outlook for the rest of 2026 is continued modest rent growth, flat supply, and rising compliance cost per property. Portfolios that are already systematised will absorb that comfortably; ad-hoc self-managed portfolios will feel it.
Tom Hillier
Portfolio Director
Tom advises landlords on multi-let acquisition and yield strategy, and oversees the Birmingham and Walsall management teams.
