Buy-to-let company formations fall 8% in 2026 so far, with August down 22%, Hamptons finds

Landlords set up 41,483 new buy-to-let companies in the first eight months of 2026, 8% fewer than the 44,802 over the same period last year, according to Hamptons' analysis of Companies House data published on 14 September; August alone saw 4,198 incorporations, down 22% on a year earlier. Hamptons says the wave of landlords moving homes they already own into company structures has passed its peak, and 51% of homes entering company ownership this year have been new purchases rather than transfers, so future formations will track how many landlords are actually buying. For sellers of the smaller flats and terraces investors tend to favour, that points to a thinner pool of landlord buyers, while for first-time buyers chasing the same stock it can mean slightly less investor competition. This is a slowdown rather than a retreat: the number of operating buy-to-let companies still rose to 469,165 by the end of August, from 443,272 at the end of 2025.