There’s been a substantial rise in landlords exiting the market or downsizing their portfolios, analysis by TwentyEA has found.  

Figures show that the number of properties currently ‘for sale’ that were listed ‘to let’ in the past three years has risen dramatically. 

In June 2024, 18.4% of all properties listed for sale had also been listed for rent within the three years prior to the sale listing. 

This was just over 28,000 properties and was 100.6% higher than June 2023 and also 34.6% higher than in June 2019. It was also 27.4% higher than May 2024 – the month that Rishi Sunak called the General Election for July 4.   

Katy Billany, Executive Director of TwentyEA, says: “There’s no doubt our data shows a significant uplift in the number of landlords selling up, either reducing their portfolio size or possibly exiting the sector completely.  

“There’s currently a lot of uncertainty in the buy-to-let market around what the change in government means for landlords but they have also been hit by steep interest rate rises and rising costs generally, so it’s likely there are several factors at play here.” 

The exodus from the lettings sector has been going on in significant volume for some two to three years now as landlords realise the increased burden of conforming by tighter regulations, and the additional costs of activities such as council licensing – not to mention high interest rates.

The findings are part of the latest TwentyCi and TwentyEA Property and Homemover Report. The full report can be downloaded here.