A small group of larger landlords now controls a growing share of the Welsh PRS, where rental growth is concentrated in Cardiff and Swansea.

Most registered landlords in Wales are small-scale operators with almost 70% owning one property, while a further 25% own between two and five. However, the latest data from Rent Smart Wales reveals that the 5% of landlords with six or more properties control 34% of registered rental homes. At the top of the market, just 0.6% of landlords have at least 21 properties - together, they control more than 15% of the registered stock.

The Rent Smart Wales register contained 213,463 properties and 100,422 landlords in May, when the number of registered properties fell by 532 and the number of landlords by 290.

This continued a longer-term decline; Wales had 4,089 fewer registered rental properties than in May 2021, a reduction of almost 2% while the average number of properties per registered landlord rose to 2.13. This suggests that the sector is not only reducing but also becoming more concentrated.

Registered

Only three of Wales’s 22 local authority areas had more registered rental properties in May than five years earlier. Cardiff recorded by far the largest increase, gaining 3,798 properties and Swansea had 913 more properties, and Blaenau Gwent recorded a much smaller rise of 76. Every other area experienced a fall with the largest reductions in Gwynedd (- 845), Carmarthenshire (- 822), and Wrexham (- 746).  

Even in Cardiff and Swansea, where registered property numbers increased, the number of landlords operating in each area fell. Compared with May 2021, landlord numbers were down by 764 in Cardiff and 694 in Swansea. Propertymark says this suggests that growth in the two cities has been driven by landlords with larger portfolios rather than an increase in the overall number of investors.

Professional

The agents’ body says larger professional portfolios have an important role, but Wales must also remain an attractive place for responsible individual landlords and smaller investors.

It wants the Welsh Government to consider reducing the additional Land Transaction Tax burden for investment in long-term rental homes and to improve access to support for bringing empty properties back into use.

It adds: “The Rent Smart Wales figures strengthen the case for policies that retain existing landlords, encourage responsible investment and increase supply where it is most needed. Without action, Wales risks having fewer rental homes, concentrated among fewer owners and increasingly clustered in a small number of locations.”

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