Build to rent completions soar

Nearly 13,000 build to rent homes were built in the year to March, according to the latest figures from the British Property Federation, despite concerns over the pipeline of new projects in London.

According to the latest survey data from the British Property Federation (BPF), which has been monitoring the growth of the purpose-built rented accommodation sector since 2017, a total of 43,236 build to rent homes have now been completed in the UK, with a further 114,000 in the planning and construction pipeline.

The total number of homes built is an increase of 42% on the amount seen at this point last year, with increasing amounts of new homes being delivered outside of London.

However, the figures, collated by Savills for the BPF, show the number of homes under construction has dropped by 11% on the same point last year, to 33,505, while the number of homes in planning has also dropped in the capital.

The BPF said there were just 37,299 build-to-rent homes in the planning pipeline in London, down from 41,322 at this point last year. This drop, however, was countered by a sharp rise in the number of homes in planning across the regions, which rose 41% to 43,472.

The BPF said it was too early to tell from the data the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the pipeline of Build to Rent projects, but the BPF members were ready to support renters getting in to financial difficulty due to the coronavirus.

Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the British Property Federation, said volume housebuilders were now responsible for a quarter of build to rent schemes, and that experience suggested demand for rental housing will lead homes-for-sale out of any recovery. However, he said: “One concern is the London pipeline – the statistics show a sharp decline in the number of homes in planning across the capital.

“The imbalance between housing demand and supply has not gone away, and if anything the impact of coronavirus has shown us that a safe and secure home for everyone is fundamental, and we should be doing everything we can to ensure the capital’s housing market delivers for everyone.”

Jacqui Daly, director at Savills residential research, said high levels of economic uncertainty typically increased demand for rented housing, as people look to avoid longer term commitments such as mortgages. She said: “This means that once lockdown is lifted, build-to-rent developers should be confident to progress stalled developments.”