Millennials are set to dominate the UK’s buy-to-let market for the first time, with new research showing that half of all new limited companies formed to hold rental properties this year will be owned by investors born between 1981 and 1996.
The analysis, conducted by Hamptons estate agency using Companies House data, found that 33,395 new buy-to-let firms are expected to be established by millennials in 2025 — a 142 per cent rise compared with 2020. It marks a generational shift in the landlord landscape as younger investors move into property and older owners scale back.
Hamptons’ full-year projection suggests millennials will make up 50 per cent of all new incorporations in England and Wales this year, while three-quarters of shareholders (75 per cent) in newly created companies will be under 50 — up from 68 per cent a decade ago.
By contrast, baby boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — have seen their share fall to just 7 per cent, down from 8 per cent in 2024, while Generation X investors have slipped from 35 to 33 per cent.
“What’s striking is the rise of younger landlords,” said Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons. “Millennials, many of whom have struggled to buy their own home, are now leading the charge in buy-to-let.”
The surge in millennial-led property companies comes as investors increasingly use corporate structures to manage tax exposure. While successive tax reforms since 2016 have reduced the appeal of individual ownership, incorporating a property business remains advantageous for many.
Those who hold rental properties within a company can deduct 100 per cent of their mortgage interest and other allowable expenses from rental income before calculating taxable profit — a benefit that individual landlords lost after reforms introduced by former chancellor George Osborne.
The shift has created a new breed of professionalised younger investors, many using company structures to build small property portfolios while maintaining other careers or side businesses.
“The tax changes have encouraged landlords to think more strategically,” Beveridge said. “Millennials are often more digitally savvy and open to new financing and management models, which makes them well-placed to adapt.”
Investment moves north as London loses its pull
While the number of landlords incorporating companies has surged, overall buy-to-let activity has slowed compared with a decade ago, with higher interest rates, tighter regulation and heavier stamp duty bills reshaping the market.
Hamptons’ wider analysis of Connells Group data found that buy-to-let purchases made up 11.3 per cent of all housing transactions in the third quarter of 2025, down from 15.1 per cent at the 2015 peak.
Investors who remain active are gravitating towards cheaper regions offering stronger rental yields. London and the South East, once dominant, now account for just 34 per cent of landlord purchases, compared with 50 per cent in 2016.
By contrast, the North East of England has become a new hotspot, representing 28.4 per cent of all investor purchases — more than triple London’s 8 per cent share.
“Landlord purchases haven’t collapsed in the face of higher taxes and tighter regulation — but they have shifted,” Beveridge said. “In southern England, big stamp duty bills and stagnant prices have nudged investors northwards, where returns are stronger.”
Millennials reshape the market
Property experts say the rise of millennial landlords marks a new phase in the evolution of the private rental sector — one driven by data, technology and diversification, rather than traditional accumulation.
Many younger investors are turning to limited companies, crowdfunding platforms and proptech solutions to manage portfolios remotely and maximise efficiency.
At the same time, the generational turnover may help sustain the rental supply as older landlords retire or sell up, though the overall volume of small-scale investors continues to fall.
“This isn’t a story of retreat so much as reinvention,” Beveridge added. “The buy-to-let market is adapting, not collapsing. The players are changing — and increasingly, they’re younger, digitally minded and more business-focused than ever before.”
