Official Statistics

Property rental income statistics: 2023

Published 31 October 2023

1. Key points

The key points for property rental income statistics are:

• the total number of unincorporated landlords that declared income from renting property in 2021 to 2022 was 2.82 million

• of these 2.82 million unincorporated landlords, 89% claimed some form of expenses

• property income is concentrated in London. In 2021 to 2022, 16% of unincorporated landlords were based in London, accounting for 26% of property income for unincorporated landlords

• all figures in 2021 to 2022 showed a recovery to pre-COVID levels, following the fall in 2020 to 2021 which was the first COVID-affected year

2. Overview

This Official Statistics publication includes information on income and expenses from renting property from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA) returns data only. Entities that do not submit ITSA returns, such a incorporated businesses with property income or individuals with property income that falls below the threshold for inclusion in ITSA, are therefore are not included in this release.

This publication covers taxpayers that receive income from renting property that is declared via ITSA. It does not contain information on tenants, or on income received from buying and selling properties.

This release covers data from the last 5 available tax years, from 2017 to 2018 to 2021 to 2022.

These statistics are subject to revision, with the next release in Autumn 2024.

Statistical contacts: K. Secker; propertyrentalstatistics@hmrc.gov.uk

Media enquiries: HMRC Press Office; news.desk@hmrc.gov.uk

The underlying data for all tables and figures in this publication can be found in the Property income statistics tables.

3. Income from UK property

UK property income can be declared on ITSA returns by a variety of different tax entities. The most common type of landlord of UK rental property is private individuals, who account for the majority of rental income declared.

Table 1: Property income declared in 2021 to 2022 by type of tax entity

Tax Entity	No. of tax entities (millions)	Total income declared (£ billions)
Individuals	2.79	42.69
Partnerships	0.03	6.17
Total	2.82	48.86

The key points from Table 1 are:

• in 2021 to 2022, 2.82 million unincorporated landlords declared income from renting property

• of these, 99% were individuals declaring property income as part of their self-assessment tax return

• in 2021 to 2022, individuals accounted for £42.69 billion in property income

Figure 1: Total rental income declared by unincorporated landlords, 2017 to 2018 to 2021 to 2022

Figure 1 demonstrates a slight upwards trend between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022:

• total property income declared by unincorporated landlords in 2021 to 2022 was £48.87 billion, compared with £46.37 billion in 2020 to 2021

• total income from UK property increased by 10% in the 5 years between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022, driven by an increase in both average property income and the number of individuals reporting property income, which increased to 2.82 million in 2021 to 2022 from 2.73 million in 2017 to 2018

Figure 2: Average rental income declared by unincorporated landlords, 2017 to 2018 to 2021 to 2022

Figure 2 demonstrates a stable, slightly increasing, trend in average property rental income between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022:

• average income from UK property remained relatively stable at around £16,700 between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022

• over the five year period between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022, the lowest average annual UK property income was £16,300 in 2017 to 2018, and the highest was £17,300 in 2021 to 2022

4. Expenses

Unincorporated landlords also declare allowable expenses to HMRC that are specific to their property business. There are several categories of allowable expenses, which are typically declared separately to one another.

Table 2: Allowable expenses declared in 2021 to 2022 by category

Expense Type	No. declaring (millions)	% of landlords declaring	Total declared (£ billions)
Rent, rates and insurance	1.88	67	2.91
Repairs and maintenance	1.87	66	5.50
Finance costs	1.26	45	6.85
Legal, management and professional fees	1.73	61	3.40
Services, including wages	0.45	16	1.23
Other allowable expenses	1.14	41	3.54
Total	2.50	89	23.42

The key points from Table 2 are:

• the most common category of expenses declared against property income are rent, rates and insurance and repairs and maintenance, with 67% of unincorporated landlords declaring expenses of these types

• the largest category of expense by amount declared is finance costs, with £6.85 billion being claimed in 2021 to 2022. This accounts for 29% of all expenses claimed against UK property income by unincorprated landlords

• of the total population of unincorporated landlords, 89% declared some form of expenses

Figure 3: Total property expenses declared by unincorporated landlords, 2017 to 2018 to 2021 to 2022

Figure 3 demonstrates a small increase in property expenses declared between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022, with a decrease in 2020 to 2021:

• total expenses declared by unincorporated landlords increased by 6% between 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022

• the highest total allowable expenses from UK property between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022 was £23.42 billion in 2021 to 2022, and the lowest was £22.16 billion in 2020 to 2021

• total property expenses declared between 2020 to 2021 were lower than in the previous four years, driven by a decrease in both the average allowable property expenses declared, and the number of tax entities declaring property expenses

Figure 4: Average property expenses declared by unincorporated landlords, 2017 to 2018 to 2021 to 2022

Figure 4 demonstrates a stable trend between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022, there was a decrease in 2020 to 2021:

• average expenses declared by unincorporated landlords has remained around £9,100

• the highest average allowable expenses from UK property between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022 was £9,400

• the average allowable expenses from UK property fell from £9,300 in 2019 to 2020, to £8,900 in 2020 to 2021

5. Regional analysis

Income and Expenses from UK property are broken down by geographical region based on the landlord’s postcode. The majority of UK rental property income and expenses are declared by landlords in London and the South East.

The regional breakdown is based on the registered taxpayer address. This may not be the area where the property is located, which cannot be determined using Self Assessment tax administration data.

Figure 5: Total property income declared by unincorporated landlords by region of taxpayer address, 2021 to 2022

Figure 6: Number of unincorporated landlords reporting property income by region of taxpayer address, 2021 to 2022

Figure 5 and 6 show a regional breakdown of property income for 2021 to 2022:

• in 2021 to 2022, 16% of all unincorporated landlords that declared income from a UK property were based in London. They account for 26% of all income declared from UK property income by unincorprated landlords

• Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland accounted for 3%, 5% and 1% of total property income respectively

• of the regions in England, the North East accounted for the smallest proportion of property income, at 2%

Figure 7: Total property expenses declared by unincorporated landlords by region of taxpayer address, 2021 to 2022

Figure 8: Number of unincorporated landlords declaring property related expenses by region of taxpayer address, 2021 to 2022

Figure 7 and 8 show a regional breakdown of allowable property expenses for 2021 to 2022:

• in 2021 to 2022, 17% of all unincorporated landlords that declared allowable expenses from a UK property were based in London. They account for 29% of all allowable expenses declared from UK property income by unincorprated landlords

• Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland accounted for 3%, 4% and 1% of total property income respectively

• of the regions in England, the North East accounted for the smallest proportion of property income, at 2%