The share of homes bought by a landlord has climbed to the highest level since 2016, driven by a sharp rise in the number of landlord-to-landlord sales (where one landlord buys from another landlord).
After remaining subdued between 2016 and 2025, investor activity has picked up sharply this year. Increasingly, though, they’re passing on their properties to other investors. This means the recent spike in landlord purchases reflects homes changing hands between investors, rather than the dawn of a new buy-to-let boom. With the Renters’ Rights Act becoming law against a backdrop of rising mortgage rates, some landlords have taken the opportunity to leave the market.
Between January and April 2026, the share of homes bought by landlords across Great Britain rose to 13.3%. This is the highest figure since the start of 2016 (13.3%), when the second home stamp duty surcharge was first introduced.
How does the picture look regionally?
The sharpest increase has been seen across Northern England (the North East, North West and Yorkshire & Humber), where landlords made up 23.9% of buyers so far this year, up from 14.5% during the same period in 2025. These levels are comparable with those seen prior to 2016, before higher rates of stamp duty and tighter tax treatment were introduced.
In the North, landlords accounted for 25.3% of buyers in the North West, 23.8% in the North East and 11.9% in Yorkshire & Humber so far this year. Notably, the share of landlord purchases in the North West has more than doubled between 2025 and 2026.
By contrast, buy-to-let investment in the South of England has been broadly flat. Across London, the South East, South West and East of England, landlords accounted for 9.1% of purchases, only marginally higher than the 8.8% recorded in 2025.
Why does buy-to-let investment vary by region?
Landlords have been most likely to acquire previously let homes in areas where the economics of buy-to-let investment continue to stack up. Higher yields across much of the North of England are more likely to offset rising mortgage and tax costs. In the North East, 35.8% of buy-to-let purchases involved homes that had previously been rented, more than double the share which were previously let in London (16.8%). In the capital, rented homes were more likely to be sold to a first-time buyer rather than kept within the rental market.
So far this year, a record 23.0% of homes bought by landlords had previously been let by the previous owner. This figure is up from 16.0% in 2025 and a five-year (2019-23) average of just 9.9%.
In a reversal of previous trends, houses were more likely than flats to remain in the rental sector. 60% of previously let homes bought by landlords in 2026 were houses, up from 40% five years ago.
Investors purchasing a previously rented home this year secured an average gross yield of 6.7%, based on the rent being paid at the point of sale and the purchase price. This figure has risen from 5.7% in 2022, reflecting both a broader rise in yields and the fact that lower-yielding homes are increasingly being sold to buyers outside the rental sector.
Rental Growth
Rental growth strengthened in the final month before the Renters’ Rights Act became law. As some landlords opted to sell ahead of the changes, more tenants were forced back into the market, increasing demand for homes to rent. The pace of rental growth continued to accelerate in April. A tenant moving into a new property paid an average of 1.9% more than a year earlier, taking the average rent in Great Britain to £1,396 per month.
This marks the fifth straight month in which the pace of rental growth has strengthened. Rents are now rising at the fastest rate in 11 months.
The rise in rents has been firmly driven by Inner London, where new-let prices rose 6.7% over the last 12 months. This is the fastest rate of growth since November 2023, when rents were recovering at a double-digit pace from the sharp falls recorded during the pandemic.
Average rents in Inner London now stand at £2,840 per month, 23.0% above their pre-pandemic peak, making it the only region in Great Britain where annual rental growth now exceeds 3.0%.
Rising costs are also being felt by tenants renewing existing contracts. In April, the average price of a renewal rose 3.2% over the last 12 months to £1,312 per month. The strongest increases were seen across the Midlands (4.5%) and the North (4.8%), where increases in new-let rents over recent years have left many existing tenants paying below-market rents.
