Countrywide’s Monthly Letting Index for August shows that the number of landlords has fallen over the last two years despite a rise in the supply of rental homes. Countrywide research estimates that the number of landlords peaked at 3.72m in 2015 when there were some 171,000 fewer rented homes than today.

However, in 2017 there are just over 154,000 fewer landlords (3.56m in total) but the number of rented homes has increased from 4.9m in 2015 to 5.1m today.

Fewer landlords and more rental properties means the size of the average landlord’s portfolio is the biggest since Countrywide’s records began in 2005. The average landlord owned 1.44 rented homes in 2017, up from 1.33 in 2015 and a low of 1.24 in 2010.

In 2017, 73% of landlords owned one buy-to-let property, down from 86% in 2010. Meanwhile, the number of landlords who own 10 or more homes has risen by a third in the last decade (2007 to 2017).

In 2017 landlords based in the North East are likely to own the most rental properties (1.54), followed by landlords based in Yorkshire and the Humber (1.52) and London (1.51). However, London based landlords are more than twice as likely to have a portfolio of 10 or more homes compared to landlords in any other region.