The ‘Future of Build to Rent Houses’ report found that demand from young families will be a particular driver for rental properties, coupled with factors including the slowdown in stock availability, worsening affordability and the end of the Help to Buy scheme.
The report dug into the ‘single family housing market’, which was defined as new build homes on low rise housing developments which enjoy decent connectivity to schools and transport infrastructure.
Rental market needs to grow
According to Savills’ analysis, this market has already attracted over £3.5bn of investment, and will need much higher sums, though there remain challenges around understanding the market from key decisionmakers in local authorities.
Dr Jacqui Daly, director of residential investment research and consultancy at Savills, said that the term ‘single family housing’ is misunderstood by many local authorities, and simplifying the terminology and jargon used in the sector will help drive delivery of more homes.
She continued: “Large housebuilders currently provide the vast majority of build to rent homes, but delivery is currently just 0.5 per cent of new housing completions. Savills research found that housebuilders are keen to establish partnerships with investors on sites where they can deliver at the pace of build rather than sale.
“At the same time, local authorities are recognising that the sector is adding decent quality homes to the private rented sector and that supply is needed to meet government housing targets. Consequently, the number of local authorities with single family build to rent homes within their development pipelines has grown to over 30 per cent, more than doubling in the past five years.”
