Up to one million new rental homes will be needed to accommodate growing demand by 2031, particularly from young families, across England and Wales.

According to Savills’ Future of Build to Rent Houses report, the single family housing market - defined as newly built homes, on low-rise housing developments that have good connectivity to schools and transport infrastructure – could help meet this demand. It explains that the market is popular with young, middle-income couples and families, and that developments tend to have good occupancy with most residents renewing their lease year on year.

Misunderstood

The single family housing market has already attracted more than £3.5 billion of investment and Savills anticipates that this figure will increase; to build one million more homes would cost £250 billion. However, Dr Jacqui Daly, director of residential investment research & consultancy, says it found that ‘single family housing’ was misunderstood by many local authorities.

“We believe that by simplifying the terminology and jargon used in the sector, planning committees will fully appreciate that this is a proposition that will help drive delivery. Build-to-rent is the preferred term because it is defined in national planning policy guidance.”

Housing targets

She says: “At the same time, local authorities are recognising that the sector is adding decent quality homes to the private rented sector and that supply is needed to meet government housing targets. Consequently, the number of local authorities with single family build-to-rent homes within their development pipelines has grown to over 30%, more than doubling in the past five years.”

Jonathon Ivory, chief investment officer at Packaged Living, adds: “If residents cannot buy, they must rent. It is therefore incumbent on the build-to-rent housing sector to step up and play a societal role in delivering the one million additional rental homes that the report states are required by 2031 to meet this demand.”