Millennials are driving a new wave of buy-to-let investment across England and Wales, defying tax rises and regulation to become the dominant force behind fresh landlord activity. According to new research from Hamptons and the Connells Group, Millennials — those born between 1981 and 1996 — now make up half of all shareholders in buy-to-let companies created in 2025.
Based on current trends, that equates to around 33,395 new landlord firms this year — more than double the figure recorded in 2020. Many of these younger investors are setting up limited companies to manage tax efficiency and portfolio growth, even as they struggle to buy homes for themselves.
Buy-to-let sector adapts to tax and regulation pressure
Hamptons’ head of research, Aneisha Beveridge, said the figures show how the buy-to-let market has evolved rather than declined: “Landlord purchases haven’t collapsed in the face of higher taxes and tighter regulation – but they have shifted.”
She noted that landlord activity has “become an endangered species” in southern regions, where higher stamp duty and stagnant prices have reduced yields, pushing investors northward instead.
Despite the stamp duty surcharge for second homes increasing from 3% to 5% in April 2025, the share of homes bought by landlords across England and Wales held firm at 11.3% of total purchases in Q3, slightly up from 11.2% last year.
This resilience reflects a broader trend: landlords are consolidating and targeting higher-yield regions rather than exiting the market.
Investors turn to northern regions for stronger returns
The North East has become a clear hotspot for rental investors. In the third quarter of 2025, 28.4% of homes sold there went to landlords, compared with just 8% in London. Hamptons reports that investor shares in the North East have exceeded 20% in nine of the past ten years, highlighting its consistency as a high-yielding region.
Across London, the South East, South West and East of England, landlord purchases now account for just over a third of all investor transactions — a sharp fall from 50% in 2016. Many Connells Group branches in these areas reported no landlord sales at all during Q3 2025, reflecting the growing imbalance between northern and southern investor activity.
The trend underscores a shift in strategy: rather than retreating, landlords are re-allocating capital to areas where rents are rising faster than house prices — a crucial factor for yield-conscious investors.
Younger landlords take the reins
Generational dynamics within the sector are changing fast. Millennials now outnumber Baby Boomers and Generation X in new buy-to-let company formations, with Gen Z beginning to make inroads. In 2025, Millennials account for 50% of new shareholders, Generation X for 33%, Gen Z for 10%, and Baby Boomers just 7%.
That means three-quarters of new landlord company owners are under 50, up from 68% a decade ago.
Beveridge said the rise of younger landlords marks a generational turning point: “Thirty years on from the invention of the buy-to-let mortgage, which kick-started investment by Baby Boomers, it’s clear that a new generation is finding alternative ways to build wealth through bricks and mortar.”
This new cohort, she added, is helping to stabilise the private rented sector by sustaining demand for investment property — particularly as traditional investors scale back.
Editor’s view
The buy-to-let market’s revival through younger ownership is a positive sign for the private rented sector. While older landlords face fatigue from tax and regulation, Millennials are proving adaptable — incorporating limited companies, seeking value beyond the South, and bringing a more professional, portfolio-based mindset.
If government policy continues to weigh heavily on individual landlords, this younger corporate model may well define the next era of UK property investment. The question now is whether policymakers will recognise that encouraging, not punishing, private landlords is vital to keeping Britain’s rental market afloat.
Author: Editorial team — UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance.
Published: 13 October 2025
Sources: Hamptons, Connells Group, Companies House, ONS rental data.
Related reading: Landlords track steady house price gains with north ahead of south
