So far this year, landlords have purchased 11.2% of all homes sold across Great Britain (GB) — meaning that apart from during the first nine months of 2020, landlords will have bought the fewest number of homes in any year since at least 2010, new data from Hamptons has revealed.
This trend has occurred since 2016 when a raft of tax and regulatory changes were introduced, says Hamptons.
Despite this, even with rising running costs and higher mortgage rates eroding profits, so far, this year, private landlords accounted for 14.0% of all sellers in GB, down from 15.7% in 2022, with Hamptons predicting that landlords will sell 294,300 more homes, by the end of 2023, than they’ve bought since 2016.
Landlords have sold 103,130 homes across GB between January and September this year, 39,270 or 28% fewer than during the same period last year, as transactions have slowed across the board.
Apart from when the pandemic hit in 2020, this also marks the lowest number of homes sold by investors during the first three quarters of a year in a decade, according to the Hamptons research.
At the current rate, Hamptons has estimated that private investors are set to sell 139,820 BTL properties in 2023, 53,240 fewer than in 2022.
In relation to regional differences, Scotland is the only region in GB where the landlord sell-off has accelerated this year.
So far in 2023, investors made up a record 12% of all sellers in Scotland an increase from 10% in 2022.
Landlord purchases have also fallen to a record low in Scotland, which Hamptons attributes to tighter rules and regulations, predominantly in the form of rent caps.
The North East saw the biggest decrease in landlord sales this year, as they accounted for 22% of all sellers in the region, down from a peak of 31% in 2022.
The North East and North West are also the only regions where landlords are buying more homes than they’re selling.
