An expected 93,000 BTL landlords will walk away from the market this year, according to data from Black & White Bridging.
Intermediaries surveyed as part of the firm’s latest broker insights report forecast a 6% drop in the number of BTL landlords by the end of 2025.
The number of BTL landlords has already fallen by 65,000 according to Black & White Bridging data, with a 4% drop recorded between 2023 and 2024.
Of the brokers surveyed, only 23% anticipated that the number of BTL landlords would grow this year. In contrast, 56% are forecasting a drop in numbers.
“Not only does this survey indicate the loss of more than 150,000 landlords from the rental market over a two-year period, it also shows the rate of change is accelerating year-on-year,” said Damien Druce, COO at Black & White Bridging (pictured above).
“It’s likely these are landlords with small portfolios of one or two properties, landlords who don’t want to face the ongoing changes to regulation and rising costs.
“Being frank, brokers who write a lot of vanilla BTL business may be nervous to find that there will be fewer BTL landlords overall going into 2026.”
However, Damien said he expects this to leave behind a “more professional cohort” of landlords operating in the market.
“Professional landlords are more likely to be interested in bespoke auction products or a residential bridge to make quick property acquisitions and provide them with the time they need to organise tenants – even refurbishment bridge products can be used to fix up a bargain ahead of securing a BTL mortgage.
“There will still be opportunities for brokers,” he added.
