Hamptons analysed data from Companies House, finding that newly established BTL limited companies had at least one shareholder and suggesting that while they may not be British citizens, they could live in the UK.
Hamptons said this could also include properties that have been transferred from personal ownership to a limited company structure.
There has been an 8% uptick in the number of BTL limited companies set up this year so far, surpassing last year’s record levels.
Hamptons suggested that at the current rate, 67,000 new companies would be established by the end of this year, with around 13,500 owned, at least in part, by non-UK nationals.
Some 61% of BTL companies set up this year had more than one shareholder, and shareholders had the same nationality in the majority of cases.
How brokers can shape the future of shared ownership
Sponsored by Halifax Intermediaries
Of those created by non-UK nationals this year, 84% had the same nationality as each other.
Trends influenced by migration
Hamptons said international ownership of new BTL limited companies seemed to follow wider post-Brexit migration trends.
While the share of non-UK national shareholders has increased, there are EU nationals. In 2016, 65% of non-UK shareholders were from the UK, but this has fallen to 49% as of this year.
Generally, there has been a fall in the share of shareholders from English-speaking countries.
In 2016, Irish, Americans, South Africans and Australians made up the top 10 nationalities. By 2025, only Irish nationals were in the top 10, at fourth place.
There has been a shift towards South Asia, with Indians accounting for the largest group of non-UK shareholders every year since 2023. In 2022, Indians were second behind Hong Kongers.
In the first half of 2025, 684 new BTL companies were set up by Indian nationals, with more registered in Hillingdon than any other local authority.
Hamptons’ analysis found that Pakistani shareholders also made the top 10 largest group of non-UK shareholders so far this year.
Africans made it to the top 10 for the first time in 2020, and since 2023, Nigerians have been the second-largest group of non-UK national shareholders. In the first half of this year, Nigerians set up 647 new BTL companies.
Although the share of BTL companies held by EU nationals has fallen, the proportion from Eastern Europe has increased. Both Polish and Romanian nationals make up a larger share of shareholders now than they did in 2016, setting up 473 and 20 companies in H1, respectively.
Non-UK nationals account for the largest share of BTL company founders in London, a trend that has stayed static since 2016.
Some 27% of new BTL companies registered in London are owned by non-UK nationals, including 54% in Kensington and Chelsea and 51% in Hammersmith and Fulham.
Outside of London, the share of new non-UK national BTL investors has more than doubled in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Scotland. Runnymede saw the highest share of new companies set up by non-UK nationals this year of any other local authority in the country, at 59%.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: “Despite the challenges facing landlords, non-UK nationals are increasingly embracing UK BTL. The London market has long been an international one, well-known across East Asia, the US, and the EU. However, demand from non-UK nationals has steadily been shifting into lower value markets outside the capital, where the bulk of growth in both house prices and rents has been seen in recent years.
“While overseas-based investors are part of the picture, the majority of purchases by non-UK nationals reflect domestic demand. Up until 2021, this demand was most likely to come from EU nationals based in the UK, but since then, it has shifted to reflect changes in broader migration patterns. Indian and Nigerian nationals are increasingly likely to buy UK BTL property in a limited company structure.”
Rents fall for the first time in five years
Hamptons found that rents across Great Britain had dropped for the first time in five years, with the rent on a newly let property declining 0.2% annually in July.
This was the first annual decline since August 2020.
However, the average rent is still 34% or £350 higher than it was in August 2020, at £1,373 per month.
The average rent on a renewed tenancy was £1,290 per month in July, £83 less than a newly let property.
This is the smallest gap in four years.
Beveridge added: “After five years of relentless rent rises, the market has paused for breath. Rents on new lets have dipped for the first time since 2020, as falling mortgage rates and a cooling economy ease pressure on the market. But for sitting tenants, the story is different.
“Renewal rents continue to climb, with landlords keen to keep pace with inflation and close the gap with market rates. It’s a sign that while demand may be softening, the underlying cost pressures haven’t gone away.”
