A significant number of landlords are retiring, driving the majority of sales by investors, as around 140,000 landlords retired last year, many of whom were early adopters of the first buy-to-let mortgages introduced in 1996.
According to research by Hamptons, a further 96,000 landlords will turn 65 each coming year, suggesting that demographics will likely drive landlord sales to a new peak within the next five years.
Hamptons’ data shows that 45% of homes sold by investors this year were purchased at least 15 years ago, up from 33% in 2018.
Rents across Great Britain have risen by 10.8% over the last 12 months, marking the second-fastest annual increase since the Hamptons lettings index was launched a decade ago.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, commented on the trend: “Two decades on from the birth of buy-to-let mortgages in the late 1990s, early investors are starting to sell up.
“This means that demographics alone will push up the number of landlord sales over the next five years to reach a new peak.
“This was likely to happen irrespective of the tax or regulatory changes introduced since 2016 and the more recent higher interest rate environment.”
Beveridge also noted that while tax and regulatory changes have not driven a buy-to-let sell-off, they have stemmed the next generation of landlords, and millennials who have struggled to get onto the housing ladder have not been in a position to afford or consider purchasing a buy-to-let property.
