Leeds city centre’s residential property market has enjoyed a busy start to the year according to Zenko City Living, which has experienced strong sales and lettings activity during the first two months of 2026.

The company doubled the number of sales it completed in 2025 compared to 2024 and this trend looks set to continue this year. In addition, most homes that Zenko sold in 2025 typically outperformed the market, with an average agreed price of £235,689. This is more than £70,000 higher than Leeds city centre’s average sold price of £164,911, as revealed by data from HM Land Registry via Dataloft.

The company’s lettings division has also enjoyed a busy period with The Renters’ Rights Act, which will be introduced in England on 1st May 2026, meaning many landlords, who don’t want to fall foul of the new laws, are now appointing Zenko to manage their properties.

Tobias Duczenko, Managing Director at Zenko City Living, commented: “The city centre residential market behaves very differently to housing markets in the suburbs, but many of the unique challenges we’ve faced in recent years are now subsiding.

“Lots of developments in Leeds have now benefitted from cladding remediation and news that ground rents will be capped at £250 per year, as part of a shake-up of the leasehold system, is having a positive impact.

“The mortgage market is also becoming more competitive and so far, this year, 62% of people we have viewed with, have been first-time buyers. This is up from around 50% in January 2025. Whilst most are reliant on a mortgage, there has been a marked increase in first-time buyers whose parents are paying in full in cash. All this follows The Sunday Times recently naming Leeds city centre as the best place for young people to live in the UK.

“Crucially, last year we also overhauled the way in which we progress sales through the legal process, which has led to much faster outcomes, reducing average deal to completion from 195 days to 95 days, minimising fall-throughs and improving certainty for all parties, which has been a hugely positive step.

“Outperforming the sales market is another big achievement for our team. Presentation, positioning and exposure all still matter, which is especially true in a market full of apartments that can look similar on paper. The difference between an average result and a strong one often comes down to how a home is launched, marketed and negotiated, so the strategy behind the sale becomes the real differentiator.”

Around the lettings market, Tobias added: “The Renters’ Rights Act is now just a few weeks away and amongst other things, it will abolish Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, ban rental bidding wars and introduce indefinite periodic tenancies. In recent months we’ve been appointed to manage properties on behalf of many landlords who don’t want to risk trying to navigate the legislation on their own.

“Significantly, we refuse to charge landlord clients commission on maintenance works we organise on their behalf. Regrettably, and unacceptably in our view, it has become increasingly common for agents to charge their landlords an additional commission, being a percentage of the cost of all maintenance works. This can often be 15% and some agents in Leeds are charging 20%!”

Finally, Tobias added: “Tenant demand remains high, which is driving steady rental growth, with two-bedroom city centre apartments typically costing just over £1,100 per month. Crucially, we firmly believe that there is still headroom for both capital values and rental levels in a growing city that offers owners and investors a bright future.”