46 Applications. One Flat. This Is the Crisis.

I listed a two‑bed flat in Chester—nothing fancy, rented by a housing association for a decade. Within 48 hours, I had 46 enquiries. Yes, forty‑six. That many people chasing the same slice of shelter. I didn’t expect this tsunami—not because the flat was a stealth gem, but because the market is desperate. This isn’t just hot: it’s a full‑on housing emergency masquerading as consumer demand.

Let me get blunt: buy‑to‑let isn’t dead. It’s fundamentally broken.

Supply Collapsed While Demand Exploded

Let’s get the numbers out of the way before any feel‑good illusion kicks in. Beginning with competition: as of March 2025, there were about 12 renters chasing every available home The Times+8fraser.uk.com+8The Times+8. That’s twice the pressure from before the pandemic. So when my flat attracted 46 applications, I wasn’t witnessing a fluke; I was seeing the systemic breakdown writ small.

Rental inflation since September 2022? Every single month clocked 5% or more year‑on‑year rent growth, setting a pace not seen since records began in 2005 Resolution Foundation.

And the cost isn’t trivial. In June 2025, private renters faced 4.5% annual inflation, outpacing the national average of 3.9% Hometrack+15Financial Times+15Zoopla+15.

Over three years (2022–2025), average UK rents jumped 21% (about £221), while average mortgage payments only rose £218 MoneyWeek. Renters are shouldering more, borrowing less.

Even rent‑to‑income ratios are ugly. In England, renters fork over around 36% of their gross income, and in London it’s over 40% Landlord Knowledge.

So yes, people need housing. Desperately. The plays for supply can’t keep pace.

Why Buy-to-Let Isn’t Dead—or Rather, Why It Has to Be Reinvented

Let’s dismantle the usual excuses:

‑ Mortgage rates doubled in two years. Rate‑hiking central banks and refinancing nightmares obliterate margins.

‑ Tax changes? Landlords got squeezed from all sides: the stripping of mortgage interest relief, new tax burdens. Now NI on rental income is on the table, which could push about 40% of landlords out, according to analysts Felix Accountants+2fraser.uk.com+2The Times+1.

‑ Regulations pile up with zero win for tenants or investors. Energy efficiency demands, deposit caps, safety standards, licensing—tons of red tape. The Renters’ Rights Bill, currently circling Parliament, aims to ban fixed‑term assured tenancies, impose new decent‑home standards, force landlord databases, and squeeze bids—yet does nothing to fix stock scarcity Wikipedia.

The result: landlords are bailing. RICS reports the steepest drop in new rental listings since the first COVID lockdown The Guardian. Another survey shows landlord instructions dropped a net ‑21% in June 2025, even while tenant demand barely fell (‑2%) The Times+11Landlord Knowledge+11The Times+11.

Supply is fragile because buy‑to‑let isn’t rewarding enough anymore.

The Demand Is Still Boiling Over

When I list a normal two‑bed, I don’t get 5 applications. I get 46.

That’s not scarcity…it’s starvation!

Rental stock remains about 20% below pre‑pandemic levels, despite a 17% increase in supply compared to a year ago MoneyWeekWikipediaThe TimesZoopla. So yes, we’re climbing back up, but from rock bottom.

Every region varies, but the pressure is nationwide. In Chester, rents grew 8.2%; Wigan, 8.8% Zoopla. In London, average rent now hits £2,712 a month, while the rest of the UK sits at £1,365 The Guardian.

This isn’t a blip. It’s systemic. Renters can’t find listings; landlords can’t make it work; politicians keep announcing reforms that don’t fix the basic mismatch.

Enter: Urban Goldmines: Repurposing What Already Exists

Let’s talk models. Building from scratch is expensive, slow, planning‑paperwork hell. Meanwhile, homelessness and precarious housing proliferate.

We look up, not out. Empty space above shops, defunct B&Bs, redundant commercial units, they’re everywhere. Everyone ignores them.

We don’t. We convert, reconfigure, and attach residential use. We value them commercially to make the numbers work, then transform them into clean, decent, rentable homes. It’s not buy‑to‑let as you were told, it’s property entrepreneurship.

We’re building supply, solving problems, creating value that sticks.

Policy Is Playing Catch-Up…or Passing You By?

The brave new world’s trying to regulate everything. The Renters’ Rights Bill wants to dampen bidding wars and improve standards, but nothing in there actually creates more housing fraser.uk.com.

Meanwhile, councils are desperate. In England, 37 councils shelled out £31 million on one‑off payments to private landlords housing homeless families….sometimes more than £10,000 each. Incentives surged 54% since 2018 in London alone The Guardian.

Build‑to‑Rent, the big institutional bet? Doesn’t cool prices. In areas with tons of BTR units: Brent, Ealing, Manchester, rents rose faster Financial Times.

Savills warns rents will climb nearly 20% over five years, driven by supply gap and landlord retreat The Times.

So while policy debates swirl about taxes and rights, nobody’s actually building the homes people need. Municipal budgets explode on landlords to plug holes. Build-to-Rent swells supply on paper but pushes up prices in reality.

This Is the Future: Creative, Real, Entrepreneurial

Urban Goldmines are not sexy. They’re practical. They turn waste into homes. That’s real impact.

I’m not flipping for yield—those yields don’t exist anymore. I’m building something long-term: wealth, yes, but also resilience, better housing, smarter city fabric.

That’s what Property Unicorns—my book—lays out. This isn’t my shaky speculative side hustle. This is the future of housing investment, and of housing access.

Wrap

Let’s stop kidding ourselves. The rental system is broken, not dead. Demand is feral. Supply is thinning. Policy is parading while real solutions lurk in overlooked buildings.

Urban Goldmines aren’t the cure, but they’re the lifeline too few are grabbing. If you want to stop complaining and start building, that’s where the real work, and the real reward, is.

Book pitch, final note: Property Unicorns shows you how to do it. Not flipping, not sham yield-seeking. Municipal-smashing, city-fixing, housing-making. Want a copy? Say “Unicorn” or hit the link.

[Order your free copy of my book here → LINK]