Private landlords are earning an average of £17,665 a year – although profits are much slimmer, according to the latest figures.
Savills reports that average gross income equates to an average profit of £9,021 after costs, and where debt is more concentrated, average profits are nearer £5,700.
Although this suggests that buy-to-let mostly remains profitable for existing landlords despite the rising regulatory burden, a substantial 51% report gross income of less than £10,000.
“For those operating in this bracket, the decision about what to do next is mostly binary: hold or, increasingly, sell,” says Savills. “Only the bravest are likely to expand in the current environment.”
Perhaps surprisingly, less than 5% of private individual landlords report a gross income of more than £50,000. While these are more likely to have incorporated their lettings business, they still receive around one-third of the gross property income received by private investors.
“However, their options are broader, with the ability to restructure their portfolio to future-proof it, or in some cases, to build it up in light of opportunities arising from other players exiting the sector.”
Data from UK Finance shows that in the year to April 2019, the average size of portfolio for a mortgaged buy-to-let investor was 3.5 properties, whereas in the year to April 2025 this had risen to five, with the gross yield rising from 6% to 7%.
Most investors are small-scale according to the English Private Landlord Survey, which suggests that 37% of landlords acquired their first rental property to live in themselves, while 45% hold just one property and a further 37% have between two and four.
HMRC reports that 42% of private individual landlords offset residential finance costs when submitting their tax return but the majority are debt-free.
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