93,000 buy-to-let landlords to sell up
93,000 buy-to-let landlords will step away from the rental market this year, according to data from Black & White Bridging.
Intermediaries surveyed as part of the company’s latest broker insights report forecast a 6% drop in the number of buy-to-let landlords in the UK by the end of 2025.
According to the HMRC, there were 2.84 million unincorporated landlords in the UK in 2023. The specialist bridging lender estimates that 57% of these –1.62 million landlords – had a buy-to-let mortgage, based on data from the English Private Landlord Survey 2021.
This number of BTL landlords has already fallen by 65,000 according to Black & Whites’ research which suggests a 4% drop in buy-to-let landlords between 2023 and 2024.
“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.
“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 buy-to-let landlords overall going into 2026.
“But we think the industry will be left with a more professional cohort that is more likely to embrace opportunities or property deals that require specialist finance. 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 buy-to-let mortgage. There will still be opportunities for brokers.”
Of the brokers surveyed, less than a quarter (23%) anticipated that the number of BTL landlords would grow this year. In contrast, more than half (56%) are forecasting a drop in numbers.
This research from Black & White’s latest broker insights report was carried out in the Summer of 2025.