The research chief at lettings agency Hamptons says it’s likely that landlords have been hit harder by high interest rates than anyone else.  

Aneisha Beveridge says that strong rental growth may soften the blow for some, but many others are drawing on their equity and cash reserves to see them through.

She adds: “Portfolio investors – who tend to be more highly leveraged – are juggling their assets by selling one or two properties to reduce their mortgage debt on the rest of their portfolio, rather than selling up entirely.

“Most landlords cashing in are one of the 10 to 20 per cent of mortgaged investors who face making losses when remortgaging at higher rates.

“Typically, they bought low-yielding properties in the South of England relatively recently or they’ve been aggressively maximising their leverage and extracting equity to grow their portfolio. 

“The real supply issue facing the private rented sector hasn’t just been caused by landlords selling up, but also because there’s been little appetite among investors to purchase new buy-to-lets over the last few years.  This has reduced the number of homes available to rent which is fuelling rental growth.”

Her comments come after Hamptons’ latest research shows that the share of homes sold by a landlord in Britain has fallen from 15.7 per cent last year to 14.0 per cent so far in 2023.

Despite that dip, this still means that investors are set to sell 139,820 buy-to-lets across Britain in 2023.

This is 53,000 fewer than in 2022 and 62,000 fewer than in 2021 when landlord sales peaked.

So that means that by the end of this year, private landlords will have sold 294,300 more homes than they’ve bought since 2016.  

This is more than the total number of homes in Manchester, or Cornwall.

The data comes from lettings agency Hampton which says Scotland is the only region in Britain where the landlord sell-off has accelerated this year and where new purchases hit a record low.

Hamptons says that while institutional investment in the private rented sector through Build To Rent schemes will have filled some of the gap left by private landlords, overall there were 43 per cent fewer homes available for tenants to rent in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period in 2015.

The agency says:  “Landlords are increasingly selling lower-yielding homes, while those purchasing a new investment are targeting higher-yielding options.  

“The average gross yield achieved on a new purchase this year rose to 6.8 per cent whereas the average yield on sale was 5.5 per cent across England and Wales.  

“This yield gap equates to an extra £2,710 a year in rental income on a typical £200,000 buy-to-let.

“Just over half (53 per cent) of all homes sold by a landlord in England and Wales this year were achieving a sub-5.0 per cent gross yield, up from 46 per cent in 2022.

“Meanwhile 78 per cent of new buy-to-lets achieved a 5.0 per cent gross yield so far this year, up from 65 per cent in 2019.”