More than one in three homes being built in London last year were for the rental market, according to new figures from the platform Rentd.
Its latest nationwide market data shows that the proportion of new-build completions coming via the build-to-rent sector has also grown in the last year, with these properties now accounting for over 7.2% of all new-built homes.
In total 7,123 new rental homes came via the build-to-rent sector, a 25% uplift on the volume of build-to-rent completions seen in 2020. This growth is some 7% higher than the increase seen in total new-build completions during the same period.
However, the sector’s impact has been far greater in London. The 21,000 new homes delivered in the capital in 2021 account for just 10% of the UK total. The 7,123 build-to-rent completions, on the other hand, account for almost half (48%) of the national total.
As a result, build-to-rent completions accounted for 34% of all new-build delivery across London in 2021, with this market share increasing from 29.2% the year before.
In the capital build-to-rent has become an increasing focus of the new-build sector, delivering high quality developments designed with long-term renting in mind.
However if these London figures are stripped out of the nationwide statistics, it shows the growth in build-to-rent has been more muted elsewhere in the UK, with market share increasing from 4.1% to 4.2% between 2020 and 2021.
Rent founder and CEO Ahmed Gamal says: “The new-build sector has evolved to deliver more than just bricks and mortar, with the lifestyle offering provided by new-build developments becoming as pivotal to their appeal as the property itself.”