So far in 2025, one in five newly incorporated buy-to-let companies in the UK is owned by non-UK nationals, up from 13% in 2016, marking the ninth increase in the past decade.
The number of buy-to-let companies set up across the UK in 2025 is running 8% ahead of last year’s record levels. At current rates, around 67,000 new companies will be set up by the end of 2025, with around 13,500 owned, at least in part, by non-UK nationals.
Indian nationals are leading the charge internationally, founding 684 new companies in the first half of the year, with more registered in Hillingdon than in any other Local Authority. Nigerian investors follow closely with 647 new incorporations, while Polish and Irish nationals also feature highly.
This shift reflects wider post-Brexit migration patterns. EU nationals now account for 49% of non-UK shareholders, down from 65% in 2016. Meanwhile, South Asian and African investors are stepping into the spotlight. The London market has long been an international one, but demand is steadily shifting into lower-value markets outside the capital, where growth in both house prices and rents has typically been strongest.
London remains the hub for international buy-to-let ownership, with 27% of new companies registered in the capital owned by non-UK nationals. In boroughs like Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, that figure exceeds 50%.
However, the most dramatic growth is happening outside London. Between 2016 and 2025, foreign ownership more than doubled in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and Scotland. Runnymede now boasts the highest share of new companies owned by non-UK nationals at 59%.
While overseas-based investors are part of the picture, the majority of purchases by non-UK nationals reflect domestic demand. Up until 2021, this demand was most likely to come from EU nationals based in the UK. Since then, it has shifted to reflect changes in broader migration patterns, with Indian and Nigerian nationals increasingly likely to buy UK buy-to-let property through a limited company structure.
RENTAL GROWTH
After five years of relentless growth, rents on newly let properties in Great Britain fell 0.2% year-on-year in July. It’s the first annual decline since August 2020, during the tail end of the pandemic. Despite the dip, the average rent remains at £1,373 pcm—34% above where it stood five years ago.
The decline isn’t uniform. Rents are still rising in seven out of the 11 GB regions, with the East Midlands (3.4%), West Midlands (2.7%), and South West (2.6%) leading the way. Greater London saw the steepest drop, with rents falling 3.0%—its seventh consecutive monthly decline. Wales, the North East, and Yorkshire & the Humber also recorded annual falls.
Falling mortgage rates and a cooling economy are easing pressure on new lets, but the story is different for sitting tenants. In July, rents on renewed tenancies rose 4.5% year-on-year, with every region seeing increases. The North West led the pack with a 7.2% rise—more than triple the pace of new lets.
The gap between new and renewal rents has narrowed to just £83, the smallest in four years. Landlords are increasingly aligning renewal rates much more closely to market levels, aiming to keep pace with inflation and limiting the impact of future regulatory risk. It’s a sign that while demand may be softening, the underlying cost pressures haven’t gone away.
