UKREiif Report: The UK’s evolving build-to-rent market
- Karen Fletcher
- May 28
- 6 min read
The SectorScope editor Karen Fletcher reports on the latest Who Lives in Build to Rent report and discussions at UKREiiF 2025 about the evolution of the UK’s build-to-rent sector as it responds to changing market demands.
Build-to-rent has been one of the phenomenal growth areas for UK property and construction. Not only is it an expanding element of the private rental sector, but the government is also supporting BtR as a critical route for achieving its promise to deliver 1.5 million new homes.
As a result, BtR is attracting billions of pounds in investment, not only from the UK but from further afield. Speaking on the UKREiiF panel, hosted by Moda Living, Lizzie Breckner, Partner for Living Sectors Research at Knight Frank noted that top investors over the past year have been Leaf Living (part of Blackstone), Starlight, Lloyds, and Kennedy Wilson.
She noted: “Global capital is also entering the UK BtR sector. In 2024, there was £5 billion invested in the UK sector and of that £2.7billion came from North America which was the first time that foreign investment was the largest proportion.”
Charlie Schouten (Chair) | Deputy Managing Editor, Green Street News |
Lizzie Breckner | Partner Living Sectors Research, Knight Frank |
Hannah Marsh | Co-Founder, Homeviews |
Lavinia Clarke | Operations Director, Moda Living |
David Melhuish | Director SPF |
Julia Middleton | Real Estate Economist, PriceHubble |
The latest Who Lives in Build to Rent report for 2025 (see below for the highlights and key takeaways) shows that the BtR sector is also attracting increasingly diverse tenants who are rating the facilities highly and voting with their feet by extending tenancies longer.
Hannah Marsh, Co-Founder of Homeviews, the independent review platform for residential developments in the UK, noted that BtR tenants are giving high scores to BtR properties. Homeviews is part of Rightmove, and here rental property searches show the popularity of BtR.
“More people are enquiring specifically about BtR developments when using Rightmove. There is particularly strong demand for Single Family Rental,” she noted. “People will also search further afield, setting limits at 50km which is a much wider search area than we see for PRS in general.”
One of the drivers for this is that BtR developments tend to be well-connected as part of their wider planning strategy, making transport to work easier to achieve, allowing for longer commutes.
One of the trends highlighted by the WLIBTR report was a slight drop-off in the number of amenities provided in BtR developments, particularly in the Multi-Family Homes sector (apartment buildings).
Julia Middleton, Real Estate Economist at PriceHubble who presented the report, said: “BtR started with a high-amenity offer. But that is changing, and we are seeing more low-amenity buildings coming into the market.”
Lavinia Clarke, Operations Director for Moda, one of the UK’s largest BtR developers, agreed that this was a trend, saying: “We are looking at balancing amenity space and pricing. We are asking ourselves, do we need a cinema or a co-working space? Community is key to our residents, but we are looking at ‘Moda Light’ versus a ‘Full’ Moda approach for the future. But some facilities remain important such as private dining rooms which are very popular.”
Lizzie Breckner added that this expansion of the market will be important for the future of BtR: “The investors want high rents, but not so high that people can’t afford to rent. Stable and consistent growth is more attractive to investors, and they would like BtR to be at the mid-market.”
One important area of potential risk for the BtR sector is the new Renters Rights Bill. David Melhuish, Director of the Scottish Property Federation noted: “The Bill will have an impact on the wider rental sector, and we need to be prepared for that.”
There are several rules that impact landlords in the Bill including the prohibition of ‘bidding wars’ for rents and a ban on taking rent in advance. Lizzie Breckner noted: “Landlords will have to talk to their credit reference agencies about a strategy for this, for example how will you deal with students or self-employed tenants?”
With other news around the Building Safety Bill impacting delivery of some BtR schemes, the future of the sector is not without challenges. However, there is clearly strong demand for professionally delivered and operated rental accommodation, which shows no signs of abating.
The BtR sector has shown itself to be fast-moving and quick to respond to its customers, and with that capability we can only expect to see further growth throughout the next decade.
About the Who Lives in Build to Rent Report
Key findings and highlights from this year’s Who Lives in Build to Rent (WLIBR) Report were presented by Julia Middleton, Real Estate Economist at PriceHubble.
* The report is published by the British Property Federation (BPF) in partnership with the Association for Rental Living, BusinessLDN and PriceHubble.
* Now in its fifth year of data collection
* Total sample of 48,600 renters
* Living in 32,800 homes across 174 schemes
Facts and Figures from the report
The sector
* Build-to-rent is 3% of the total UK private rental sector (PRS), but the proportion is higher in cities
* Completed units represent 3% of the private rental sector and that rises to 6% when the current pipeline of projects is included
* Multi-Family Homes (MFH), apartment blocks in cities and town centres, dominate the market with 109,000 completed units which is 89% of the BtR market
* Single-Family Homes (SFH) are more often suburban homes of which there are 14,100 completed units or 11% of the BtR market.
Age of BtR tenants
* 25 to 34 years is the dominant age band across all rental segments
* Collectively, 25 to 44 years are in similar proportions, but with slightly different emphasis:
67% Multi-family homes
67% Single-family homes
62% total private rental sector
* These age bands remain similar whether London is included in the figures or excluded from them.
Tenant profiles
* As might be expected, multi-family apartment BtR developments have a lower proportion of family tenants. Around 98% of these are urban flats, and 89% are 1 or two-bedroom flats.
* Single-family rental attracts more families, but the tenants are more diverse than that and can include couples or sharers.
* In terms of employment, finance and professional are the most common areas of work for tenants across PRS as a whole and MFH. However, there is a broad range of employment including the public sector, tech, media, and retail.
* The income profile across MFH and SFR is very similar to that of PRS:
£26k to £50k
* MFH 43%
* SFH 42%
* PRS overall 45%
* It is notable that MFH attracts many higher earners, though part of this story is that salaries in London tend to be higher and there are more MFH developments in the capital.
Market finances
* The WLIBTR report sees strong sector rental growth with limited affordability impact
* Affordability in the BtR sector has been ‘remarkably’ stable – more so than in the wider PRS
* MFH renters spend slightly more of their income on rent than PRS, though they are getting more amenities such as access to a gym as part of that payment. This is in addition to professional service and quality of accommodation.
* MFH has a high level of rental renewals – 55% over the past 12 months
* The trend is to increased rental renewals with the typical lease term now 12 months
* The renewal rate in SFH is even higher at 59%
BtR Amenities
* Popular amenities are largely consistent with previous WLIBTR reports but there is some indication that the proportion of developments with a high level of amenities is falling as the sector becomes more diverse.
* Parking is the top paid-for amenity (53%)
* On average, 7% of floorspace in a BtR scheme is given over to amenities, which represents around 7,000 sq ft
Percentage of MFH schemes including each amenity in rent
| 2024 | 2023 |
Social calendar/events | 82% | 92% |
Shared garden/roof terrace | 78% | 82% |
Parcel storage/acceptance | 71% | 77% |
Co-working and/or meeting space | 70% | 74% |
Residents’ lounge | 70% | 76% |
Concierge | 61% | 81% |
Gym/wellbeing centre | 60% | 66% |
24-hour security | 59% | 78% |
Event space | 56% | 66% |
Fitness studios | 29% | 35% |
