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The property premium: the nature and trajectory of landlord profits in England

14 May 2026
REPORT | Luiz Garcia, Beth Stratford
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Summary and key findings:

Using the English Private Landlord Survey for 2018, 2021, and 2024, this report explores the economic realities of the private rental sector in England by estimating landlords’ ‘Returns on Equity’ (RoE) from their properties – and comparing these to the returns possible on other comparable investment options readily available to them. In short, it asks: how profitable is being a landlord compared to other investments?

• Being a landlord in the English private rental sector has been the best investment available to individuals over the past decade, combining some of the highest returns with relatively low risks.

• It offers a very high likelihood of securing better returns than comparable lower-risk investment options available.

• Across all three surveys since 2018, a significant majority of landlords have enjoyed post-tax returns greater than our lower-risk investment benchmark: 79% exceeded the benchmark in 2018, 99% in 2021, and 66% in 2024.

• Significant proportions of landlords enjoyed returns above even our higher-risk benchmark in each year of the survey: 48% exceeded it in 2018, 97% in a boom year in 2021, and 42% in 2024.

• It is incredibly rare for landlords in the private rental sector to see a negative post-tax return (make a loss).

•Being a landlord in the private rental sector is highly likely to give better returns than investment in the broader real estate sector (i.e. office, retail, industrial and residential investment).

•There was a downward turn in private rental returns in 2024 from a very high level, but being a landlord is still very likely to offer returns greater than a ‘standard’ lower-risk benchmark for investment within the UK economy.

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