Buy-to-let investors use faltering property market to haggle £50,000 discounts off homes

Buy-to-let investors are capitalising on the faltering property market to drive a hard bargain and snap up deals, estate agent Hamptons has revealed.Sentiment across the housing market is at rock bottom with some developers describing the worst selling environment in decades.But some investors are sensing an opportunity and are now using their chain-free position and their cash reserves to secure deals well below the asking price.The average landlord paid just 88.7 per cent of the initial asking price in July, meaning a typical home initially listed for £400,000 is being bought for £354,800.Landlords accounted for 14.1 per cent of all home purchases in July, according to Hamptons, up from the 12.4 per cent across the year-to-date on average.The estate agent says investor numbers typically rise in slower markets as seasoned investors look to take advantage of a weaker market and secure good deals from motivated sellers. No such things as an insulting offer? 56% of investor offers in July were at least 10% below the initial asking price - rising to 63% among landlords paying in cashHalf of offers from investors during July 2026 were at least 10 per cent below the seller's initial asking price, which is the highest proportion since the first Covid lockdown in April 2020.This is also up from 48 per cent in June this year and 45 per cent in July last year. Investors buying in cash looked to push for an even harder deal with almost two-thirds of offers from cash-backed landlords in England and Wales last month coming in at least 10 per cent under the initial asking price. By contrast, owner-occupiers were much less ambitious. Last month, only 25 per cent of offers from first-time buyers and 27 per cent of offers from home movers came in at more than 10 per cent below the first asking price. 'When the market slows, seasoned investors rarely stand on the sidelines for long,' said David Fell, lead analyst at Hamptons. 'With homes taking longer to sell and chains proving fragile, landlords are using their liquidity and chain-free status to maximise their leverage when it comes to agreeing a price. 'In a market where certainty has become more valuable, these benefits tend to be worth more than in hotter markets where sellers often have multiple options on the table.'Sellers are more likely to accept low offersSellers are increasingly willing to accept these lower offers, according to Hamptons.In July, 27 per cent of offers from investors at 10 per cent or more below the initial asking price were accepted, compared to just 18 per cent in July 2025.Desperate flat owners are leading this trend. Sellers of leasehold properties accepted 41 per cent of these discounted offers, highlighting price weakness and lack of demand in the apartment market. To put that in context, this time last year, 18 per cent of these offers were accepted by leasehold flat owners at 10 per cent or more below the initial asking price – and in July 2024, it was just 13 per cent.Last month, it was revealed that flat owners in city centres across Britain are seeing the price of their properties plummet.A majority of owners selling flats in the central postcodes in Sheffield, Birmingham, Leicester and Newcastle are now selling at a loss of almost £40,000 on average.A staggering 62 per cent of flat sellers in Sheffield city centre (S1 postcode) have sold for less than they bought their homes over the past 12 months, according to research from analytics firm PropertyData.It's a similar story in Birmingham city centre (B1), where 61 per cent of flat sellers have sold at a loss over the past 12 months. Where investors are driving the hardest bargains The prevalence of lower investor offers was highest in Southern England, with the exception of London. The South East saw the highest share of opportunistic offers in the country, with 70 per cent of investor offers coming in at least 10 per cent below the first asking price. The South West followed with 60 per cent of investor offers at least 10 per cent below the initial asking price. Similar levels of low offers were seen in the North West, Wales, the East of England and in Yorkshire and Humber.Many of these low offers were rebuffed by sellers. In the South East, offers which were 10 per cent or more below the initial asking price accounted for 54 per cent of accepted deals, and 44 per cent in the South West.By contrast, offers 10 per cent or more below the asking price accounted for just 32 per cent of agreed deals in the North East last month and just 16 per cent in London where, despite a tough market, sellers were least likely to accept a lower offer.David Fell of Hamptons also says the willingness to accept a lower offer typically correlates with how long a home has been on the market.'Sellers who have been on the market for several months are becoming more pragmatic,' he adds.'This is particularly true for flat owners, where demand remains weaker than for houses, or for those selling in the South of England more generally. 'While higher borrowing costs continue to weigh on investment returns, landlords with cash or low levels of borrowing are finding that a slower market is creating opportunities to purchase at significantly lower prices than would have been possible a few years ago.'For landlords, an upward trajectory in rents provides a counterweight to higher borrowing costs.'Best mortgage rates and how to find them Mortgage rates have shot up again due to inflation triggered by the conflict with Iran reversing hopes that the Bank of England would cut rates. This means those remortgaging or buying a home face higher costs.That makes it even more important to search out the best possible rate for you and get good mortgage advice, whether you are a first-time buyer, home owner or buy-to-let landlord.This is Money's partner L&C can help you with its fee-free mortgage service.> Compare mortgage rates> Find the right mortgage for you To help our readers find the best mortgage, This is Money has partnered with the UK's leading fee-free broker L&C.This is Money and L&C's mortgage calculator can let you compare deals to see which ones suit your home's value and level of deposit.You can compare fixed rate lengths, from two-year fixes, to five-year fixes and ten-year fixes.If you’re ready to find your next mortgage, why not use This is Money and L&C’s online Mortgage Finder. It will search 1,000’s of deals from more than 90 different lenders to discover the best deal for you.> Find your best mortgage deal with This is Money and L&C Mortgage service provided by London & Country Mortgages (L&C), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registered number: 143002). The FCA does not regulate most Buy to Let mortgages. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.