The new figure constitutes an increase of 37.4% in the number of new high-quality, professionally-managed rented homes across the UK. It stood at 69,824 in the first quarter of 2017.
The data shows the build-to-rent (B2R) sector’s capacity to add to housing supply at speed, in BPF’s view, at a time when both central government and the Mayor of London are focused on fixing the UK’s housing market.
Published quarterly as an interactive map on the BPF’s website, the research was produced by Savills and commissioned by the BPF.
“Our data allows us to track the market’s growth across the UK, and ensures we are as transparent as possible when communicating the sector’s current and projected contribution to the country’s housing supply,” said Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the British Property Federation.
“Correcting the supply-demand imbalance in the UK is fundamental to addressing the housing crisis, and we have demonstrated that build-to-rent has much to offer,” he added.
When looking exclusively at the number of these homes under construction and in planning, the rate of growth is higher. This number has risen from 54,507 to 78,917, demonstrating a 44.8% increase.
London benefits from the highest volume of these homes with 54,978 homes complete, under construction and in planning.
Other regions are making progress in green lighting development with 12,316 B2R homes currently under construction – compared to 11,696 in London.
The size of B2R developments also continues to rise, with 34 builds currently in the pipeline set to provide over 500 new rented homes each – compared to 24 developments in Q1, according to the research.
“We look forward to the government’s formal response to the national Housing White Paper, which formally recognised build-to-rent in the National Planning Policy Framework. We need all housing tenures to be fully supported by the right policy framework if we are going to reverse the damage caused by years of under supply,” said Fletcher.
