Build-to-rent now accounts for more than 7% of all new homes, according to new research, with London leading the charge.
Some 7,123 new rental homes came via the BTR sector last year, a 25% uplift on the volume of BTR completions in 2020, research by rental platform Rentd found.
As a result, BTR completions accounted for 7.2% of all new-build homes delivered last year, up from 6.8% the previous year.
Rentd pointed out, though, that the bulk of this development had been in London, with other regions lagging behind. While the 21,000 new homes delivered in the capital in 2021 account for around 10% of the UK total, the 7,123 BTR completions accounted for 48% of all those developed nationwide.
BTR is steadily becoming a dominant feature of the London market, with completions accounting for 34% of new-build delivery in 2021, up from 29.2% the year before.
Elsewhere in the UK, the average is 4.2%, up from 4.1% the year before.
Ahmed Gamal, founder and CEO of Rentd, said: “Despite its relative infancy, the BTR sector has grown rapidly and there is no doubt it will continue to do so over the coming years as it becomes a greater area of focus for the nation’s housebuilders.”
He added that, while “we remain a nation of aspirational homebuyers”, the BTR sector was offering something more than just bricks and mortar. “The lifestyle offering provided by new-build developments is becoming as pivotal to their appeal as the property itself.”
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