Regions have caught up with London, new British Property Federation data shows

Nearly 10,000 purpose-built homes for private rent were constructed last year, according to figures from the British Property Federation.

101 George Street modular Croydon projects George Street images (5) Credit - Forbes Massie

101 George Street, Croydon, includes 546 build-to-rent apartments

The data, collated by Savills for the BPF, reported that 9,869 build-to-rent homes were completed in 2019, an increase of 48% on the 6,654 built in 2018.  This means a total of 40,181 homes have been built since the inception of the institutionally-backed build-to-rent sector in the early 2010s.

The data also shows that, by a narrow margin, the majority of build-to-rent homes are now outside of London, with growth in properties in the regions far outpacing construction in the capital in 2019.

While nearly 7,000 build-to-rent homes were built outside the capital last year, just 3,000 were built in London.

While more homes were built in 2019 than ever, the data suggests that growth is likely to be slowing, with just a 5% uptick in the number of schemes under construction in the year, compared with a 39% increase in 2018. However, the BPF said the size of schemes was increasing steadily, which indicated growing investor confidence in the sector.

The average size of completed schemes is 141 homes, while the average size of those under construction is 253. Those schemes in planning feature an average of 317 homes.

There are now 152,071 build-to-rent homes either complete, under construction or in the planning pipeline, up 15% on last year.

Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the BPF, said the data showed that build to rent had “gone nationwide”.

He added: “The sector is making a significant contribution to supply, regeneration and placemaking, with the average size of planned build-to rent-developments almost 200 homes higher than those that are complete.”

Jacqui Daly, director of residential research at Savills, said the sector was bringing forward much-needed, high quality and well-managed rental homes. 

She added: “Uncertainty over the content of the new London Plan has held some planning applications back. The revisions in the latest draft will give more certainty to investors and encourage more schemes to come forward.”

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