I think the disappearance of 1700 landlords from the market might be somewhat vaguely related to the figure Brendan produced in March suggesting that 11,000 buy to let mortgages were 2+ years in arrears. Repossesions and/or vulture fund tranche buy-outs are starting to come through for this group which probably explains some of the drop. Secondly, a lot of investment is required for new BTL investors, which in a rising market would mean taking more risk or spending more upfront. Another issue is long term impact of pension changes in late 1980s - prior to 1987 self employed people could not open pensions in their own names so many invested in property as a "pension." Many of that generation would now be retiring and selling off properties to get around means testing later on for nursing homes (recently heard of a well to do non property owning pensioner being quoted 800 a week so can only imagine what state would whack on someone with a 2nd property and incoming rent). So not entirely surprised that BTL in decline for those for whom it is not a full time profession.