Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Property118. Read the original article for full details.
Landlords not buying, not selling, is the real issue, report argues
According to a report published by Property118, the PRS landlord crisis is less about landlords selling up and more about new landlords choosing not to buy into the market in the first place.
The report, titled "The PRS landlord crisis isn't about us selling – it's about us not buying!", argues that the most important landlord to leave the market this year may be the one who never entered it.
The core argument
The report suggests that much of the debate within the landlord community has focused on how many landlords are selling their properties and whether this constitutes an "exodus" from the private rented sector. Property118 argues that this framing misses the bigger picture.
It proposes a different question: who is buying? The report's central claim is that the absence of new entrants to the landlord market is a more significant issue than the number of existing landlords disposing of their properties.
What this means for the sector
The report does not set out specific figures, statistics or data on landlord purchases or sales, so readers should treat it as an opinion piece reflecting Property118's perspective on market dynamics rather than an evidenced market analysis.
Relevance for letting agents and inventory clerks
For letting agents, the reported shift in emphasis from landlord sales to a lack of new landlord purchases concerns the long-term supply of rental stock and the pool of prospective landlord clients. If fewer new landlords are entering the market, agents may face continued pressure on the availability of properties to let.
For inventory clerks, any discussion of market conditions in the PRS is relevant context, since the balance of landlords entering and leaving the sector affects the volume and type of properties requiring inventory services. However, given that the report offers an argument rather than supporting data, no conclusions can be drawn from it about actual current levels of buying or selling activity.
Agents and clerks who wish to explore the argument in full should consult the original article on Property118, which sets out the author's reasoning in detail.
Source: Property118