Some 66,587 new companies were formed to hold buy to let property in 2025.
The data comes from lettings agency Hamptons which says this represents an 8% increase on 2024’s total of 61,517 and a 363% rise over the last decade.
This rise comes despite investors accounting for a smaller share of home purchases.
Across Great Britain, investors bought 10.8% of homes in 2025, down from 11.9% the year before.
Growth in the number of incorporations began to build in 2016, when mortgage interest relief started to be phased out for higher-rate taxpayers owning BTL in their personal names.
Today, more than three-quarters of new buy-to-let purchases are made through limited companies.
Although, rising incorporation numbers also reflect landlords transferring existing privately‑owned buy-to-lets into corporate structures.
The number of new companies established peaked at 6,493 in September 2025, the highest monthly figure on record.
More than 5,000 companies were established in 10 out of the 12 months during 2025.
Buy-to-let companies also ranked among the most common types of new businesses created in 2025.
They were the second most frequent business category, behind mail‑order firms, and ahead of management consultants.
There were 1.8x more buy-to-let businesses established in 2025 than takeaway businesses, 5.9x as many pub/bar businesses, and 9.3x as many estate agents (table 1).
This momentum has carried into 2026, with 5,922 new buy-to-let limited companies set up in January 2026 – 11% more than the same month last year, suggesting the trend shows little sign of slowing.
The 66,587 companies formed in 2025 were owned by 103,280 shareholders.
Notably, 42% of companies established last year had more than one shareholder, up from 34% in 2016. Limited companies increasingly enable co-investment.
By the end of 2025, the total number of buy-to-let companies registered with Companies House had reached 443,272, nearly five times (4.9x) the 91,278 recorded in 2016.
Across England and Wales, there are now more than three-quarters of a million property titles (755,042) held in a buy-to-let company, up from 272,964 a decade ago.
Hamptons estimates this equates to around 1. 5 million buy-to-let properties within a limited company structure.
Buy-to-let investors are not alone in turning to corporate structures.
The total number of companies (all types) registered at Companies House has risen 48% over the past decade, reflecting the growing tax burden on private individuals.
This article is taken from Landlord Today