This is according to analysis of Companies House data by Hamptons, which reveals that the number of buy-to-let companies set up across the UK in 2025 is running 8% ahead of last year’s record levels.

At current rates, around 67,000 new companies will be set up by the end of 2025, with around 13,500 owned, at least in part, by non-UK nationals.

International ownership of new buy-to-let companies has typically followed wider post-Brexit migration trends.  While the overall share of non-UK national shareholders has risen, there has been a pivot away from EU nationals.  In 2016, 65% of non-UK shareholders came from the EU, but this figure has fallen to 49% in 2025.

There has also been a general fall in shareholders from the Anglosphere, or English-speaking, countries.  In 2016, Irish, Americans, South Africans and Australians all featured in the top 10.  By 2025, only Irish nationals remained, ranking fourth.

Instead, ownership has moved towards South Asia.  Indians have made up the largest group of non-UK shareholders every year since 2023.  In 2022, they were the second largest nationality among non-UK national purchasers, behind Hong Kong nationals.

Nationals from Africa first made it into the top 10 list of non-UK shareholders in 2020. However, since 2023, Nigerians have ranked as the second-largest group of non-UK national shareholders in newly formed buy-to-let companies. In H1 2025, they formed 647 new buy-to-let companies.

Despite the shift away from EU nationals in general, Eastern European nationalities have bucked the trend.  Both Polish and Romanian nationals now make up a larger share of new buy-to-let shareholders than they did in 2016, setting up 473 and 208 companies in H1 2025 respectively.

Regions outside the capital have generally seen the largest growth in foreign ownership.  Between 2016 and 2025, the share of new non-UK national landlords more than doubled in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Scotland.

Rental price trends

Rents across the UK have fallen for the first time in five years.  The average rent on a newly let property fell 0.2% year-on-year in July, marking the first annual decline since August 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic.  Despite this, the average rent of £1,373 pcm remains £350 or 34% higher than in August 2020.

These rent falls are not yet widespread.  Rents are still rising in seven out of 11 regions, with the East Midlands (3.4%), West Midlands (2.7%) and South West (2.6%) leading the way.

Greater London continues to record the sharpest drops, with rents falling 3% year-on-year in July – its seventh consecutive monthly decline and the biggest annual drop since May 2021.

Meanwhile, rents on renewed tenancies continued to rise, up 4.5% year-on-year in July.  The pace of rental growth for renewed contracts has accelerated for the fourth consecutive month, with every region recording increases.

Commenting on the latest data, Hamptons head of research Aneisha Beveridge said: “Despite the challenges facing landlords, non-UK nationals are increasingly embracing UK buy-to-let.  The London market has long been an international one, well-known across East Asia, the US, and the EU.

“However, demand from non-UK nationals has steadily been shifting into lower value markets outside the capital, where the bulk of growth in both house prices and rents has been seen in recent years.”

Beveridge added: “While overseas-based investors are part of the picture, the majority of purchases by non-UK nationals reflect domestic demand.  Up until 2021, this demand was most likely to come from EU nationals based in the UK, but since then, it has shifted to reflect changes in broader migration patterns.  Indian and Nigerian nationals are increasingly likely to buy UK buy-to-let property in a limited company structure.”