London has been one of the busiest markets for agency deals this year. Dexters, Campions, Savills, Dwelly and Jefferies London have all bought London businesses since April. Some were prime sales houses, some were lettings books of a few hundred units, and one was a 37-year-old independent with more than a thousand managed homes.
If you own a London agency and have been wondering whether now is the moment, this is what the market looks like from the buyer’s side: who is spending, what they are paying for, and what you should get in order before you talk to any of them.
Who is buying London agencies in 2026
London buyers now fall into four groups. They want different things, and a business that is a perfect fit for one can be of little interest to another.
1. Lettings platforms backed by institutional money
Dwelly has been the busiest buyer in London this year. It entered London in April with Eden Harper, adding around 250 managed properties. In August it bought Shaws, a Kensington lettings agency founded in 1994 covering Kensington, West Kensington, Barons Court, Hammersmith and Fulham, adding another 250 or so. On 1 September it bought Paramount Properties in West Hampstead: 37 years old, 30 staff, around 1,100 managed properties across 80 London postcodes. That was its tenth acquisition of 2026 and took it past 15,000 properties under management.
The money behind it is serious. Dwelly announced a £69m raise in February, £32m of equity led by General Catalyst and a £37m debt facility from Trinity Capital, and said it would use it to buy more agencies.
Its head of M&A, Sam Humphreys, has been clear about why London matters: “Continuing to invest in London is a hugely important part of our long-term strategy as the capital’s rental sector continues to be underpinned by exceptionally strong demand for high quality homes.”
What they want: managed lettings income. Tenancies, landlords and fees, not shop windows. Management often stays: Paramount’s managing director Spencer Lawrence remains in post.
2. The established London groups
Dexters bought Fraser & Co in June. Fraser & Co was founded in 1995 by Robert Fraser and does sales, new homes, lettings and property management at the upper end of the market, with a Hong Kong office alongside its London branches. Dexters is keeping the Fraser & Co name, branches and staff.
Campions Group has made two London deals. It is the UK arm of the French group Emeria, and it already owns Chestertons. In April it bought Aston Chase, a prime North West London agency covering Marylebone, Regent’s Park, St John’s Wood, Little Venice, Maida Vale, Primrose Hill, Belsize Park and Hampstead. The same month it bought Madison Brook’s residential agency. Madison Brook kept its public-sector Living Markets division, so this was a sale of one part of a business, not the whole.
Savills bought Mark Tunstall Property in April. It was a super-prime lettings specialist in central London. Mark Tunstall has gone back to Savills as co-head of super-prime lettings, the team he set up there in 2011.
What they want: brands with a strong local name, prime stock and good people. These are buyers who will keep your name on the door if it’s worth more than theirs in your patch.
3. New-model brokerages
Jefferies London bought Grange London in July. Grange is a Paddington agency focused on new-build flats, with more than 100 managed properties. Its leadership, Mez Callender and Christina Lipper, stay in their roles. Jefferies runs a partner-agent model backed by its own AI assistant, and says it wants to nearly double its agent network by the end of the year.
Founder Damien Jefferies: “The future of estate agency isn’t about replacing great agents with AI, it’s about giving great agents better tools to succeed.”
What they want: a lettings book to sit under a sales brokerage, and people who will stay.
4. The big name that has gone regional
Foxtons is the obvious London buyer, but its 2026 deals have been outside the capital. In January it bought Cauldwell in Milton Keynes. On 23 September it announced four more: Maguire Jackson and Davidson Estates in Birmingham, Warren Anthony in Watford, and a lettings portfolio in the Reading area.
Lettings made up 65% of Foxtons’ revenue in the first half of 2026, and chief executive Guy Gittins says it remains “focused on high-quality, lettings-focused businesses”. So the appetite is there. Its recent announcements just have not been in London.
That matters if you had assumed the biggest brand in your market would be the natural buyer for your business. It may be. But it is not the only one, and at the moment it is not the most active one in London.
What this tells you about what your London agency is worth
We do not publish valuation numbers, and you should be wary of anyone who gives you one without seeing your accounts. What you can take from this year’s London deals is what buyers are paying for. For more on the mechanics, see how a lettings book is valued.
Managed lettings income is the asset. Almost every London deal this year had a managed portfolio at its centre, whether it was 100 units at Grange or 1,100 at Paramount. When we looked at agency deals from 2024 to August 2026 for our research published in Property Industry Eye, the pattern was clear. As Martin Bunney put it: “The clearest pattern that we are seeing, confirmed by our research, is that the acquisition of lettings books is now favoured over entire agencies.”
You may not have to sell the whole business. Madison Brook sold its residential agency and kept its Living Markets arm. Outside London, Dwelly bought AP Morgan’s lettings book in July while the founders kept the sales side. If your sales business is the part you enjoy, selling the lettings book on its own can be a real option.
Your name and your people can survive the sale. Fraser & Co keeps its brand. Paramount and Grange keep their leadership. Buyers in London are paying for relationships with landlords, and those relationships sit with the people.
Expect part of the price to depend on what happens afterwards. When Foxtons bought Cauldwell, £0.8m of the £6.5m price was deferred for 12 months and depended on performance. In its four September deals, announced at £4.8m, a further £1.2m is deferred and linked to performance. Deferred payments are normal. What you need to know before you sign is exactly what they depend on, and how much of that is in your control.
The London issues to get in order before you sell
London is not one market, and a buyer will want to understand your book in detail. These are the London-specific points to have answers for.
The Renters’ Rights Act
The Act came into force on 1 May 2026. Foxtons reported a £3.0m reversal of lettings revenue in the first half because more tenants ended tenancies early, though it says the effect has eased since May. If you manage a large London book, you should know your own early-termination figures since May, and be able to explain them. We covered this in detail in the Renters’ Rights Act and your agency sale.
The licensing patchwork
Licensing in London is set borough by borough, and it keeps changing. Havering brought in selective licensing across seven wards on 18 March 2026, with civil penalties of up to £30,000 per property for non-compliance. Croydon’s selective scheme started across 14 wards on 25 September 2026.
If you manage property in more than one borough, you should be able to show, property by property, which scheme applies and that each licence is in place. Gaps in licensing are a liability that sits on the book, and it is far better that you find them than a buyer does.
Rents and supply
The rental picture in London is tightening again. Zoopla’s September report put London rental growth at 2.9%, up from 1.7% a year earlier, with homes for rent in inner London postcodes 13% down on last year and rents there rising between three and four per cent. HomeLet puts the average Greater London rent at £2,238 in August, up 5.1% on a year earlier.
Rising rents help your fee income if you charge a percentage. Falling supply means landlords are harder to replace if they leave. Know your landlord retention figures for the last two to three years.
Where your book sits
A book concentrated in a few inner London postcodes is a different proposition to one spread across outer boroughs, and both are different to a prime central London portfolio. Dwelly’s London deals so far have been West Hampstead, Kensington and the Eden Harper book. Campions and Savills have bought prime. Know which buyers are active in your postcodes before you decide who to talk to.
Inner, outer and prime: different buyers for different books
As a rough guide from this year’s deals:
- Prime central and North West London has drawn the established groups: Campions (Aston Chase), Savills (Mark Tunstall Property) and Dexters (Fraser & Co).
- Mainstream managed lettings books in inner and North West London have drawn the lettings platforms, Dwelly especially.
- Smaller books sitting under a sales operation have drawn new-model brokerages such as Jefferies London.
This is not a hard rule. But if you approach only the buyer you have heard of, you may miss the one that values your business most.
When to sell
There is no perfect time, but there are good and bad times for your own business. Well-funded buyers are active in London right now and competing for managed lettings. That tends to be good for sellers with clean books.
A common mistake is going to market before the lettings book is in order: patchy licensing records, landlords on non-standard terms, or client money reconciliations that nobody outside the business has checked. Sort those first. It takes months, not weeks, and it is time well spent.
How we can help
The Acquisitions Group acts for agency owners, and the team has acquired 156+ businesses in five years. We know who is buying in London, what each of them wants, and how to put your business in front of the right ones without your staff, landlords or competitors finding out.
Start with our free business valuation tool. It takes a few minutes and gives you a starting point based on your own figures. Then, if you’d like to talk it through, book a confidential conversation with Martin. There is no obligation, and nothing leaves the room.
You can read more about how we work with agencies on our estate and lettings agencies page, read how much an estate agency is worth, or read our guide to selling a letting agency.
Sources
- Letting Agent Today, “Agency makes third acquisition of 2026 – and it’s in London”, 14 April 2026 (Dwelly / Eden Harper)
- Property Industry Eye, “Fast-growing group completes ninth acquisition of the year”, 6 August 2026 (Dwelly / Shaws)
- Letting Agent Today, “Fast-growing lettings platform makes 10th acquisition of 2026”, 1 September 2026 (Dwelly / Paramount Properties)
- Estate Agent Today, “Fast-growing agency snaps up well known independent firm”, 1 September 2026 (Dwelly / Paramount)
- Letting Agent Today, “Firm announces £69m investment to acquire lettings agencies”, 26 February 2026 (Dwelly funding)
- Letting Agent Today, “Agency’s 8th acquisition this year adds 500 properties to portfolio”, 16 July 2026 (Dwelly / AP Morgan lettings)
- The Negotiator, “Exclusive: Big independent London estate agency bought by Dexters”, 9 June 2026; Estate Agent Today, “Top London property firm acquires multi-branch agency”, 9 June 2026 (Dexters / Fraser & Co)
- Property Industry Eye, “Estate agency group accelerates London expansion with key acquisition”, 22 April 2026 (Campions / Aston Chase)
- Estate Agent Today, “Campions Group expands London presence with acquisition of Madison Brook’s residential agency”, 28 April 2026
- Property Industry Eye, “Savills completes super prime agency acquisition from former head of lettings”, 10 April 2026 (Savills / Mark Tunstall Property)
- Estate Agent Today, “Independent London agency acquired by AI-fuelled brokerage”, 13 July 2026; Property Industry Eye, “Prime London estate agency expands through acquisition”, 13 July 2026 (Jefferies London / Grange London)
- Letting Agent Today, “Foxtons now more and more reliant on lettings”, 16 January 2026 (Cauldwell terms)
- Foxtons Group plc, Interim Results (RNS), 30 July 2026 (H1 lettings share, RRA revenue reversal, 1 May commencement)
- The Negotiator, “Foxtons unveils four regional acquisitions as it spreads beyond London”, 23 September 2026
- Property Industry Eye, “Lettings portfolios become hot property in estate agency acquisition race”, 9 September 2026
- Landlord Today, “Rents to rise sharply as supply falls once more”, 14 September 2026 (Zoopla Rental Market Report)
- Letting Agent Today, “Rents rising this year and beyond – two new analyses”, 15 September 2026 (HomeLet Rental Index, August 2026)
- London Property Licensing, “Havering Additional and Selective Licensing Schemes started on 18 March 2026”
- Croydon Council, “Selective Licensing Scheme 2026”