“Home values are not rising at the same pace as in London and the South-east, but the level of rental incomes is being maintained which, with low purchase prices, gives buy-to-let investors a double bonus.”External factors such as global unrest and problems in the City-based financial services sector have also hit the London market far harder than the North, which is propped up by a wider spread of manufacturing and general service industries, says Cotton, whose company has 27 UK branches.It is not only the North that has benefited from buy-to-let. In South Wales, for instance, a typical £60,000 two-bedroom flat will yield a monthly income of £400, a £79,000 flat in the Midlands would give you about £450 a month, and in the South-west region, landlords in Devon, which like London and the South-east is expected to see rental incomes fall due to lack of tenants, can expect to reap about £500 a month on a £70,000-£80,000 outlay. An investor who buys in Finchley, north London, could expect £900pm from a two-bedroom flat costing £200,000, while a £300,000 two-bedroom flat in Chelsea, Kensington or Knightsbridge would give you an average of £1,733pm in rental income, according to figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.”Though the idea of buy-to-let started in the South, it has been exported around the country to towns and cities where property prices start from a far lower base and where investors are getting far better value for their money,” says Cotton.So what kind of investor does the North attract? “Three or four years ago, it was mainly pensioners and people of a near-pension age who wanted an income to prop up their flagging pensions,” says Steve Kendall. But in the past six months, the company has seen a flurry of young investors, many of whom are more interested in long-term capital growth than rental income.One of the former is May Tindall from Southampton, who put down a £6,000 deposit on a £40,000 three-bedroom terraced house and garden in Manchester.

Now the 58-year-old part-time teacher says she is “more than happy” with the deal. “If I bought a three-bedroom house with a small garden in Hampshire it would cost more than double the price and considerably higher again in London.”She was encouraged by a businessman friend who had invested in several Manchester properties. “As I had some spare capital and needed an extra income I thought this would be a better way of using my cash than the stock market, unit trusts, Tessas or Isas.”Tindall, whose investment overlooks Old Trafford, quips: “My son knows several Man U supporters, so it’ll give him an excuse to come up and watch the football and keep an eye on my property at the same time.” She now plans to buy two more Mancunian properties – a pair of two-bedroom houses costing £27,000 apiece.Mr Cotton adds a note of realism to the North-South divide. “The northern property markets are relatively small compared to London, so they will probably reach a ceiling in the next few years.

The advantage of London is that though the bottom may have temporarily dropped out of the market, the values of buy-to-let properties are far higher and could prove a better longer-term prospect.”If you are interested in investing in the North, contact Specialist Property Services on 0161 877 8388 or Practical Property Portfolios on 0191 497 3935. Spain and France top the destination polls for UK buyers searching for properties abroad, while Italy has always languished down the list. Yet recent reports suggest that interest in the Italian property market is soaring as buyers snap up homes from Piemonte in the north down to Sardinia in the south. She has also noticed a different type of clientele being attracted to Italy: “It used to have a bad press. But there’s so much more information now around on buying in other countries that people now know that in general Italy is not expensive.”Buyers in Italy tend to be looking for properties to restore, but Travella believes there are other attractions.

“The friendliness of the people is such a big plus, as is the lifestyle, but there is no ma? complex. People are more relaxed, but not so relaxed that they are falling over backwards.” There is also a wide choice of location, from mountain to rural or coastal, and the increase in budget flights to regional airports in Italy from the UK is having a major impact, she says. “Just yesterday, a client rang to say that he was near Bristol airport and could easily fly to Milan and Genoa, which is exactly where he should buy – it’s a big factor.”Transport is good value and so is property if you search out lesser-known destinations. Piemonte, in northern Italy, may not have the weather of Sardinia, but there £19,000 buys a village house, £29,000 a semi-detached property of 200sqm and gardens, and £37,000 a typical stone house in the centre of a village (all available through Casa Travella). Nearby airports include Milan, Turin and Genoa.But many buyers have reported finding themselves victims of overpricing after using less than reputable agents.