The proportion of new-build completions coming via the build-to-rent sector has grown in the last year to now account for over 7% of all new homes reaching the market, new research has indicated.

Rental platform, Rentd, revealed that last year saw 7,123 new rental homes come via the build-to-rent sector, a 25% uplift on the volume of build-to-rent completions recorded in 2020.

As a result, build-to-rent completions accounted for 7.2% of all new-build homes delivered last year, a level up from 6.8% the previous year.

Rentd analysed the total number of new-build completions over the last year, the impact of these completions on growth in the build-to-rent sector, as well as how this has changed year-on-year.

The analysis also found that the sector’s impact has been far greater in London. The 21,000 new homes delivered in the capital in 2021 accounted for just 10% of the UK total, while the 7,123 build-to-rent completions, on the other hand, accounted 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% compared to the year before.

Rentd’s research showed that this growth has been more muted elsewhere around the UK, with build-to-rent market share increasing from 4.1% to 4.2% between 2020 and 2021.

“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,” Rentd founder and CEO, Ahmed Gamal.

“It’s hardly surprising that this focus on better quality living to suit the modern resident has transferred so well to the rental sector and, in fact, it’s more surprising that it’s taken so long to happen.

“Despite its relative infancy, the build-to-rent sector has grown rapidly and there’s no doubt it will continue to do so over the coming years, as it becomes a greater area of focus for the nation’s house builders.

“Of course, we remain a nation of aspirational homebuyers and so while more of us are choosing to rent until later in life, we’re unlikely to see build-to-rent eradicate this appetite to own our own homes entirely. But the sector does provide a fantastic alternative for the smaller proportion of the population who prefer the flexibility and easier freedom of movement that renting can provide.”

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