The exit signal just got louder, 27% of landlords now plan to quit entirely

More than two-thirds of landlords now expect to sell some properties or leave the sector altogether. For every one planning to buy, more than seven are planning to contract or go. The imbalance is not correcting. It is hardening.

The Property118 Landlord Sentiment Survey has now asked landlords twice about their intentions, and the trend is pointing firmly in one direction.

In Q2, 67.7% of landlords said they expected to sell some properties or exit the sector entirely, against fewer than one in ten, 9.5%, planning to buy. The proportion intending to leave completely has climbed to 27.1%.

An honest word on the comparison

We want to be straight about the numbers, because the headline deserves context. In Q1 we asked landlords about their most likely course over the next twelve months. In Q2 we extended that window to three years. Part of the increase therefore reflects the longer horizon rather than a pure shift in sentiment.

But that does not explain it away. Even allowing for the longer period, the direction is unmistakable, and the ratio of sellers to buyers has widened. In Q1, the balance was already stark. In Q2 it is starker. A survey that flatters the data would gloss over the methodology change. We would rather show you the honest picture and let the trend speak.

Why more than seven-to-one should worry policymakers

A healthy market has buyers and sellers in rough balance. This one does not. When more than seven landlords are heading for the exit for every one stepping in, the pool of privately rented homes shrinks, and it shrinks fastest exactly where supply is already tight.

The landlords in this survey are not marginal operators. They are conservatively geared, experienced, and financially resilient. That is what makes the exit signal so significant. These are not distressed sellers dumping property in a downturn. They are considered investors deciding the sector is no longer worth the effort.

The tenants left in the middle

Every property sold by a landlord leaving the sector is a home that may leave the rental market altogether. When those homes go, the tenants in them have to find somewhere else, at a time when social housing waiting lists are at record levels and new supply is falling well short of demand.

The government has argued that reform will professionalise the sector and protect tenants. But protection means little if there are fewer homes to rent. A shrinking private rented sector is not a safer one for tenants. It is a smaller, more competitive, more expensive one.

Two quarters of data now point the same way. The exit signal is not fading. It is getting louder, and it deserves to be heard before the homes are gone.

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