Managed rentals are agents’ top profit priority for 2025

Growing managed rental portfolios is the industry’s top profitability strategy in 2025, according to PayProp’s latest survey of property professionals.

An incredible 68.3% of respondents put managed rental growth first in the 2025 edition of the PayProp State of the Rental Industry report, ahead of increasing procurements, raising fees, and all forms of cost-cutting.

What makes managed rental growth so overwhelmingly popular? In short, it is an opportunity for agencies to build regular income from residential rentals, unlike procurement-only contracts which typically only pay a finder’s fee. The importance of this was hammered home during and after the pandemic, when sales volumes fell.  

Just as importantly, managed rentals are an opportunity to build income without signing more landlords.  

Portfolio growth has been a constant challenge for rental agencies: survey respondents placed it as the second biggest facing them this year, only behind finding quality tenants.

Tracking managed rental growth

Encouragingly, the rental industry appears to be moving towards a managed rental model. For the first time, a majority (52.5%) of respondents reported that less than 10% of their portfolio is procurement-only, up from 40.8% last year. And almost 9 out of 10 manage more than half of their rental portfolios.

This trend could result in more consistent high-quality service for both landlords and tenants as expert rental agents take over the day-to-day management of rented homes.

When it comes to bagging more managed leases, PayProp’s survey reveals room for specialist approaches to improve agents’ chances. Only 33.2% of respondents said their agency has a specific budget dedicated to managed rental growth. And 7 out of 10 said agents at their workplace handle both sales and rentals. As managed rental portfolios grow, more agencies may deploy full-time rental specialists to manage the potential of this emerging growth opportunity.

What agents want

The State of the Rental Industry also reveals industry priorities and challenges, and their views and strategies around technology, landlords, tenants, and the future of rentals.

Finally, it contains our most extensive data yet on the fees agencies charge for commission, administration, inspection and more.

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