Northern England now accounts for a larger share of landlord house purchases than London and the South.

A decade on from the introduction of the Stamp Duty surcharge in April 2016, Paragon Bank’s analysis reveals that in 2015 - the year before the additional 3% tax on second homes was introduced - the South accounted for nearly 56% of all mortgaged buy-to-let purchases, compared with just under 35% across the Midlands and North. By 2025, the Midlands and North represented just over half of buy-to-let volumes, while the South’s share had dropped to 38%.

The North West has emerged as the second largest single regional buy-to-let purchase market, accounting for almost 14% of purchase volumes by 2025, compared to 9% a decade earlier. Yorkshire has also seen sustained proportional growth, up to 10% of transactions from 7%, and the North East has increased from 4% to 7%.

Contrast

By contrast, London dropped from 18% of purchases to 12%, with the South East fell from 23% to 16%. The South West dropped from 9% to 6%.

Louisa Sedgwick, managing director of mortgages, believes landlords have become more commercially focused. She adds: “Regions such as the North West and Yorkshire and the North have moved from being alternative locations to core buy-to-let markets, while higher-priced southern regions have seen their relative importance decline.”

NRLA

Meanwhile, the NRLA reports that single-property landlords in England, who account for almost half the PRS, may be more likely to leave the sector than landlords with larger portfolios. When quizzed about their plans, 38% of single-property landlords said they were either highly unlikely or unlikely to still be landlords by the end of 2026, compared with 21% of multi-property landlords.

When discussing their reasons, single-property landlords were more likely to refer to tenant relationships, evictions, Section 21 and the difficulty of regaining possession, while multi-property landlords referred to tax, EPC requirements and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards.

The NRLA believes larger landlords may be better able to absorb risk across a portfolio and adds: “If smaller landlords continue to feel disproportionately exposed to these risks, the sector could gradually become more concentrated in the hands of larger portfolio operators.”

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