Specialist buy-to-let broker Commercial Trust said London has overtaken the south east in terms of purchase applications.
The broker's analysis of buy-to-let purchase applications across the UK showed the capital recorded the greatest share over other regions with 15.34 per cent.
This meant it overtook the south east, which stood at 13.76 per cent, for the first time since the second quarter of 2017.
These two regions have dominated the Commercial Trust's buy-to-let purchase data historically, but the north west has closed the gap and has a 11.11 per cent share in the second quarter in 2018.
Andrew Turner, chief executive of Commercial Trust, said: "We are delighted to have seen an overall increase in the volume of buy-to-let mortgage purchase applications amongst our client base in the first two quarters of 2018.
"There is a growing role for specialist brokers in an increasingly complex buy to let market. The bewildering choice of products continues to grow, and the 2017 rule changes around buy to let add significantly to the intricacy of matching borrower to mortgage."
Recent analysis from UK Finance suggested that in April and May of 2018 there was a year-on-year decline in the volume of buy-to-let house purchase mortgages, with 5.7 per cent fewer applications in April and 9.8 per cent less in May.
The statistics from Commercial Trust also showed London delivered the stand-out performance for buy-to-let mortgage completions during the second quarter, with an 8.97 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase, followed by Scotland at 5.80 per cent.
Martin Stewart, director of London Money, said: "Personally, I have seen no evidence of a revival in the buy-to-let purchase sector in London and would struggle to think of any reason why it should revive.
"With new build developers struggling to shift stock, a general malaise instigated by too much Brexit, warm weather and football, coupled with widely reported news of property values falling in the capital leads me to think any uplift may be short lived."
aamina.zafar@ft.com
