A fifth (20%) of buy-to-let companies set up in the UK this year are owned by non-UK national shareholders, analysis by Hamptons has found.
Indian investors made up the largest group of non-UK shareholders setting up buy-to-let limited companies in the first half of 2025, followed by Nigeria, Poland and Ireland.
The research is based on newly established buy-to-let limited companies where Companies House lists one or more shareholders as a non-UK national.
Back in 2016 just 13% of limited companies were international, but that amount has surged after the former Conservative administration cut mortgage tax relief and replaced it with a 20% tax credit.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: “Despite the challenges facing landlords, non-UK nationals are increasingly embracing UK buy-to-let. 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 buy-to-let property in a limited company structure.”
The share of non-UK shareholders coming from the EU has fallen from 65% in 2016 to 49% in 2025, amidst Brexit.
Non-UK nationals make up the largest proportion of shareholders in buy-to-let companies registered in London – a trend that has remained unchanged between 2016 and 2025. This year, 27% of new buy-to-let companies registered in the capital are owned by non-UK nationals.
Over half of the new companies set up in Kensington & Chelsea (54%) and Hammersmith & Fulham (51%) were owned by non-UK nationals.
However, regions outside the capital have generally seen the largest growth in foreign ownership.
Between 2016 and 2025, the share of new non-UK national landlords 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%.
