A new study has shed light on what rental housing owners and developers must provide to keep long-term residents – and it’s not on-site gyms or concierges.
Findings from Carter Jonas’s latest tenant insight survey, shared exclusively with EG, showed that nearly two-thirds (65%) of tenants prioritised high-speed broadband as the top essential amenity in a rental property, rising from 45% in 2019, when the last survey was conducted.
Allocated parking was a priority for 47% of tenants in the survey, which collated more than 950 responses from build-to-rent and private rented sector residents.
Energy efficiency was prized as “important” by half of tenants, amid energy price cap hikes and growing awareness around sustainability. Meanwhile, 27% deemed pet-friendly accommodation as an essential.
Electric vehicle charging points, on-site concierges and on-site gyms were seen as the least valuable aspects of a rental scheme, broadly considered as neither essential nor important.
Lee Richards, head of BTR and PRS at Carter Jonas, said: “There is a discussion in the BTR community about whether to design for community or for amenity. This is an indication that tenants may well be attracted by rooftop running tracks, gyms and swimming pools, but once they’re living there, what they really value in the long term is what makes their lives easier.”
Richards noted that the trends are in line with geographical changes seen in the pipeline, amid a growing number of suburban and single-family housing developments.
Researchers also found that the largest proportion of tenants (25%) earned an average income of between £30,001 to £50,000.
A fifth of tenants said their most recent move was prompted by pandemic-related issues, with a majority citing the need for more space to better enable working from home.
Beyond the pandemic, 15% of renters moved on the back of a desire for more indoor space or a larger property. A further 18% said they moved for better access to private outside space.
Richards said that to retain tenants in a rental property for the longer term, the industry “needs to offer more flexibility”.
“People are spending more time in homes as they work from them, so their homes are something they are giving more thought to,” said Richards. “They are looking for more flexibility in terms of the way they can use indoor space, like having a home office, pet-friendly options or the ability to decorate internally.”
Richards also predicted there will continue to be a “sensitivity around energy costs and efficiency” among tenants for at least the next two years.
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