The number of new companies established to hold buy-to-let (BTL) property reached a record high in 2025, totalling 66,587, Hamptons has revealed.

The latest figure represents an 8% increase on 2024 and a 363% rise over the last decade.

The estate agency stated that this growth has taken place even as investors made up a slightly smaller share of home purchases, buying 10.8% of UK homes in 2025, compared to 11.9% in 2024.

Hamptons added that this trend in incorporations has been building since 2016, when full mortgage interest relief started to be phased out for higher-rate tax payers owning BTL properties in their personal names.

In 2025, around three quarters of all new BTL purchases are made through limited companies, with increasing numbers also reflecting landlords transferring existing portfolios out of personal ownership.

The number of new companies established in a month peaked at 6,493 in September 2024 and this momentum has carried into 2026, with 5,922 new BTL limited companies set up in January.

Lead analyst at Hamptons, David Fell, said this shift to corporate structures can be traced back to the introduction of tougher tax treatment in 2016.

He concluded: "Since then, frozen personal allowances, rising mortgage costs and rents, alongside the widening gap between income tax and corporation tax rates have all encouraged more landlords towards incorporation. For a growing share of investors, company ownership makes better financial sense.

"That said, incorporation isn’t the right approach for every landlord. For those who earn little beyond their rental income and remain basic rate taxpayers, personal ownership can often be preferable - particularly given that Companies House filing fees have outstripped inflation in recent years.

"Meanwhile, on the rental side of the market, the moderation in newly agreed rents is showing tentative signs of stabilisation. With rent increases set to become open to tribunal challenge from May, many landlords are ensuring that rents are aligned as closely as possible with current market levels."

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