Between January and April 2026, the share of homes bought by landlords across Great Britain increased to 13.3%

The share of homes bought by a landlord has jumped to the highest level since 2016, says Hamptons.

This is driven mostly by a sharp rise in the number of landlord-to-landlord sales – typically smaller-scale landlords quitting the lettings sector because of the Renters Rights Act (RRA), then having their properties bought by larger-scale landlords.

After remaining subdued between 2016 and 2025, investor activity has risen sharply this year as higher mortgage rates and the RRA prompted a reshuffling of the rental market.

Between January and April 2026, the share of homes bought by landlords across Great Britain increased 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.

The sharpest rise 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.

A growing proportion of purchases are landlord-to-landlord sales.  Faced with higher borrowing costs and increased regulation, some landlords have chosen to exit the sector – and their homes are increasingly being bought by another investor.

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%.