TwentyCi says 562 rental homes a day have been lost from Britain’s rental market during the third quarter of 2026, the fastest pace of landlord disposals since 2016.
The property-data company puts the number of rental homes sold since the start of July at 44,000. At the same point last year, its daily rate was 495 homes; at the start of the decade it was 167.
The figures point to a market being reshaped rather than simply emptied. Rental availability has still risen year on year, according to TwentyCi, because build-to-rent completions and a more active supply of re-let homes are offsetting a portion of the sales.
Rental supply rises despite landlord disposals
TwentyCi says the number of available rental properties rose by an average of 1.3% compared with a year earlier, reversing several years of decline. Its year-to-date measure shows 118,100 more homes available to let than at the equivalent point in 2025, an increase of 13.6% and the highest level for seven years.
That is an important qualification to the headline disposal rate. A landlord sale does not automatically remove a home from the rental pool: another investor may buy it, a professional operator may add stock, or a tenant move may place an existing home back on the market. The numbers do, however, show a higher level of churn among smaller rental holdings.
This follows Residential Landlord’s report that 26% of landlords planned to sell after the Renters’ Rights Act. TwentyCi’s data records homes actually sold, but it also shows why the effect on tenant choice cannot be judged from landlord exits alone.
Tenanted sales remain part of the picture
For investors, the distinction between a vacant disposal and a tenanted sale will matter over the coming months. Residential Landlord recently found that 8,553 homes were advertised for sale with tenants in situ, showing that some owners are seeking an investor buyer rather than an immediate empty property sale.
TwentyCi’s figures also sit alongside the growth of larger, incorporated landlords. Its data does not establish how many of the 44,000 homes were bought by other landlords, owner-occupiers or institutional investors, so it cannot on its own prove a net loss of long-term rental stock. That limitation is particularly relevant while build-to-rent is adding homes in some areas and leaving others largely untouched.
Location will therefore decide the practical impact. A sale in a town with several competing landlords and new apartment delivery may make little difference to renters. In a tight local market with little new construction, even a modest run of sales can reduce the choice available to households looking to move.
Listing availability is also only a point-in-time measure. A home advertised today may be let quickly, withdrawn for sale or re-listed after a tenant moves, so national totals do not show whether a household can find a suitable home at an affordable rent in its own area. That is why local supply, rather than a single national stock figure, will determine whether the disposal trend becomes a problem for tenants.
TwentyCi published the latest data through its Property and Homemover Report.
Opinion
The 562-a-day figure should not be used as shorthand for a nationwide rental collapse. It does, though, confirm that ownership is changing hands at a faster rate than it has for a decade. Ministers and lenders should watch which areas lose small landlords without replacement supply, rather than relying on a national availability figure that can hide local shortages.
