Britain’s private rented market is undergoing a major structural shift.
New figures suggest almost one in five rental homes have been lost from the market over the last decade, raising questions about whether the recent improvement in available stock is enough to halt the decline and what it could mean for rents over the coming years.
Analysis from property data specialist TwentyEA reveals that almost 850,000 homes have left the private rented sector since 2016. That means nearly one in five (18.6%) properties that were rented at some point during the last decade have disappeared from the market.
Traditional landlord sector shrinking
The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the traditional landlord sector is continuing to shrink as investors grapple with higher costs, tax changes and increasing regulation.
Although the losses cannot be attributed solely to the Renters’ Rights Act, the timing is no coincidence. The largest number of former rental properties were sold in 2025, when almost 181,000 homes left the sector. Most of the Act’s provisions came into force on 1 May this year, following several years of debate and preparation.
Yet despite the continued loss of landlord-owned stock, rental supply has increased during the course of 2026. TwentyEA’s latest Property & Homemover Report shows the number of rental properties coming to market is more than 17% higher than during the same period last year and has reached its highest level for seven years.
Build-to-rent sector
Much of the increase has been driven by the build-to-rent sector. In the second quarter of 2026, listings for purpose-built rental homes were 22% higher than a year earlier.
The drawback is that growth in build-to-rent does not necessarily increase supply levels in the same locations where landlord-owned properties are disappearing from the market, nor can it make up for a decade of decline in just 12 months.
Rents up
Those structural supply issues are evident in the rental inflation seen in much of the country. TwentyEA’s analysis of rental instruction prices shows Wales and the Midlands recorded some of the strongest inflation over the past year. Scotland, Inner London and the South East saw more modest increases, with the East of England recording the largest decline in asking rents, down 7.7% year-on-year. In Yorkshire and the Humber, the fall was 4%.
Lets agreed increase
At the same time, lets agreed have increased across almost every region, with only Inner London recording a decline. And that’s despite available stock increasing in 10 of the UK’s 12 regions.
Whether those supply increases prove to be a temporary improvement, are in the right places, or are the start of a more sustained shift remains to be seen.
Even if those supply improvements continue, it may take years to rebalance the rental market and, in the meantime, rents will keep on rising.
