Buy to let finance changes to growing portfolio demands

As the private rented sector increasingly heads towards professionalisation, there’s a growing need for better portfolio and specialist buy to let lending.

Research from Pegasus Insight says the average landlord portfolio has risen to 7.3 properties as more investors look to boost their portfolio size.

The firm’s latest Landlord Trends report also found that 21% of landlords now describe themselves as full-time or self-employed landlords.

That’s up from 17% at the end of 2025.

PRS is becoming more professional

The firm’s managing director, Mark Long, said: “The PRS is becoming increasingly professional and sophisticated.

“The image of the landlord with one or two properties operating on the side of another career no longer tells the full story.

“The PRS is undergoing a gradual but important structural shift.”

He added: “That has significant implications for the mortgage market.

“Larger landlords tend to have more complex borrowing needs, make greater use of limited company structures and are more likely to require specialist lending solutions and refinancing support.”

Lenders are now delivering the products, he says, to help larger landlords to remain in the sector for the long term. As the market evolves, there is a growing opportunity for lenders and brokers that can provide the expertise, flexibility and products needed to support increasingly professional property businesses.”

Larger landlords are remaining

The research points to a sector in which tax and regulatory pressure have not removed larger landlords from the market.

Instead, the business structure and finance are becoming more important for those who remain.

Limited company landlords are holding much larger portfolios than the average.

The average landlord portfolio now stands at 15.3 properties, compared with 12.8 in Q4 2025, and 66% of those holdings are now in a corporate structure.

More BTL remortgaging

Finance demand is also being impacted as almost four in 10 landlords with borrowing expect to remortgage in the next year.

That rises to 56% among landlords with four or more buy to let mortgages.

Landlord portfolio borrowers are almost twice as likely as smaller landlords to be active in the refinancing market, the report suggests.

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