Build to rent accounted for an average of 61% of new homes delivered across eight UK regeneration areas over the past decade, despite the sector representing under 2% of national housing stock, according to new research from NRLA Living and Bidwells.
The report, published following last week's launch of NRLA Living, examined eight BTR-led projects across the UK to assess the sector's impact on local demographics, employment, incomes and rent levels. NRLA Living supports institutional residential investors, developers and operators in managing and growing their portfolios.
The location-level figures are striking. In both Stratford in London and Redcliff in Bristol, BTR accounted for 87% of all homes built over the ten-year period. Milton Keynes Central reached 73%, and Blackhorse Lane in Waltham Forest recorded 66%.
The research also found that areas with a higher BTR presence recorded higher population growth. BTR schemes attracted on average five times the number of 20-to-39-year-olds into new regeneration areas compared with other local authority areas. The report frames this demographic pull as a factor in supporting the emergence of mixed-use neighbourhoods, with early residential occupation generating footfall for local businesses including cafes, bars and restaurants.
The report's release coincided with an NRLA Living launch event at which institutional leaders from the BTR market gathered to debate the future of residential investment and operations. Government housing adviser Kunle Barker delivered a keynote on the current policy landscape.
"We believe that Build to Rent makes, and can continue to make, a valuable contribution to the UK's supply of housing, alongside traditional buy to let," said Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association.
"These research findings demonstrate that housing delivery can only happen at scale if the Government takes steps to ensure investment is encouraged rather than stifled.
"Crucially we believe that a thriving BTR market must complement a growing BTL sector if the UK is ever going to meet its ambitious housing objectives. Without a bold vision which attaches an equal level of importance to both sectors, the Government will simply fail to solve the UK's housing crisis."
Iain Murray, partner and head of operational living at Bidwells, said the findings reframe how BTR's contribution should be measured.
"Build to Rent is usually judged on the number of homes it delivers, but this research shows its impact runs wider than that," Murray said.
"Across the schemes we examined, BTR has acted as the catalyst for regeneration, putting people on site early, giving local businesses the footfall they need to establish themselves and drawing younger working-age households into areas that had previously struggled to attract them.
"That evidence matters now because capital is being committed to operational living in a far more complex regulatory and fiscal environment than five years ago. Investment decisions of this scale should rest on data, and this report gives investors, local authorities and government a clearer basis on which to judge where BTR sits in the housing mix."
