The share of homes bought by landlords has climbed to its highest level since 2016, driven by a sharp rise in the number of landlord-to-landlord sales.

After remaining subdued since 2016, investor activity has picked up sharply, with sales predominantly driven by larger investors buying from smaller landlords, according to Hamptons’ latest lettings index.

Between January and April, the share of homes bought by landlords across Great Britain rose to 13.3% - the highest figure since the start of 2016 when the second home stamp duty surcharge was introduced.

The sharpest increase was across Northern England (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.

Costs

Faced with higher borrowing costs and increased regulation, some landlords have chosen to exit the sector - and their homes are increasingly being bought by other investors, reports Hamptons. So far this year, a record 23% of homes bought by landlords had previously been let by the previous owner, up from 16% in 2025.

Landlords have been most likely to acquire previously let homes in areas where BTL economics continue to stack up. 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%).  

Trends

In a reversal of previous trends, 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 – up from 5.7% in 2022. Meanwhile, the annual pace of new let rental growth rose to 1.9%, the fastest rate for 11 months.

Aneisha Beveridge, Hamptons’ head of research, says: “The recent spike in landlord purchases reflects homes changing hands between investors, rather than the dawn of a new buy-to-let boom.”

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