According to Paragon’s report, ‘30 years of buy-to-let‘, there were 1.92 million BTL mortgages outstanding in 2025, with a combined value of £311.6bn, compared with 120,300 mortgages worth £9.1bn in 2000.
The report also found that gross BTL lending totalled £753bn between 2002 and 2025.
Nigel Terrington, CEO of Paragon Banking Group, remarked: “The fundamentals behind buy to let remain strong. Population growth, later homeownership, affordability pressures, student demand, labour mobility and limited housing demand all continue to support demand for rented homes.”
He added: “One of my greatest frustrations is that buy to let is still too often misunderstood. Several myths from its early years have proved stubborn to shift, particularly around what the product is, the role it serves and the problem it helps to solve.”
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While 45% of landlords own just one property, landlords with five or more properties account for 49% of all tenancies, despite making up only 17% of landlords.
The report argued this shows housing provision is increasingly concentrated among larger, professional operators.
In 2025, almost 70% of all BTL lending by value was remortgaging. Paragon said this reflected a market increasingly driven by experienced landlords refinancing existing portfolios rather than purchasing new properties.
Louisa Sedgwick (pictured), managing director of mortgages at Paragon Bank, said: “Many landlords now operate their portfolios as businesses, taking a long-term view of investment and responding to changing tenant expectations, housing standards and regulation.
“The result is a market that is more professional and commercially focused than when buy to let first emerged.”
This sentiment was echoed by John Heron, former Paragon executive director and one of the key figures involved in the creation of BTL, who said: “That evolution has been accompanied by higher standards, more sophisticated lending and a much greater understanding of the role the private rented sector plays within the wider housing market.”
