Build to rent just seems to be getting bigger and bigger – both in terms of its reach across the UK housing market and its popularity.

The British Property Federation (BPF) this week revealed that construction began on more than 13,500 build to rent homes in regional cities last year. That’s not just double, but triple, the amount of provision in London (where the sector first started).

The Federation’s Ian Fletcher acknowledged the huge rise of the sector in northern towns and cities, acknowledging that it went hand-in-hand with regeneration initiatives.

“[Build to rent] is not just about increasing housing provision, it is also a major economic driver,” he said. “It helps attract and retain skilled workers, serving as a catalyst for urban regeneration.

“The strong growth of the BTR sector across the regions will support the government’s levelling up initiative and help revitalise town and city centres.”

At the same time, researchers and upmarket estate agents Savills are convinced the build to rent sector will double within the next few years. They are confident of their prediction because they’ve already seen many local authorities push through planning consent for build to rent developments, in the knowledge their own housing stock is diminishing or already diminished.

Research from estate agency Ascend Properties revealed that planning permission requests for build-to-rent units were up by as much as 52% during 2020 – the most intense period of the pandemic.

Even the middle-aged are going for Build to Rent

The demand is there too. Many young professions can’t afford to become homeowners these days, while the middle-aged like the flexibility and lack of maintenance etc responsibility that renting can bring. Understandably, they also enjoy the inbuilt benefits of build to rent complexes, such as gyms, pools, work spaces and cinema rooms. Some even come with concierges and domestic cleaning and laundry facilities.

Insurer Admiral has produced figures that show there are almost twice as many people in the UK looking to rent one of these new BTR properties, as there is accommodation. That increase to one in every ten individuals in Salford. 

‘Zoom room’ and retro caravan perks

One new build to rent facility on Liverpool’s quayside even has its own ‘zoom room’. Those renting at the former HMRC office block now redesigned and renamed The Keel, can look their best on-screen thanks to the room’s tinted windows.

In another build to rent development in north west London renters can choose to work from a retro camper van if they so wish. It’s a perk, along with the cinema room, of paying the £1,770 a month rent, plus utility bill of around £200, also monthly.

BPF figures show there are 26 per cent more build to rent units across the UK than in 2020. Property advisers CBRE calculated that a record £4.1bn was invested in the sector last year. Another 141,215 build to rent developments are currently being built, or are about to be. Cities which have seen the biggest jump in build to rent provision are Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool.

A record amount of money – more than £4.1bn – was poured into the UK’s Build to Rent sector last year.

A report by property advisory CBRE reveals the amount is £500m higher than the previous record, which was set back in 2020. Analysts say around £2bn worth of deals are already in progress for 2022, with a further £2.5bn currently being marketed for investors, ensuring this will also be a bumper year. 

More UK financial institutions building property portfolios

Last year Lloyds Bank and home retailer John Lewis publicly announced they were entering the corporate landlord market. In fact, Lloyds has made no secret of the fact it intends to build up a portfolio of 50,000 rental homes by the end of the decade. Now Legal & General are also voicing support and likely to be the next big UK financial institution keen on getting a share of the sector.

The Build to Rent sector is already extremely popular with large-scale investors in both Europe and the US. A chronic housing shortage in the UK makes it look likely to expand here too. Goldman Sachs in America is already looking into the UK Build to Rent markets, as is an Australian investment bank and other European property investors.

Built to Rent sector has “plenty of room to grow”

Jason Hardman, an executive director at CBRE blames “a chronic shortage of good quality housing in the UK” for the boom in Build to Rent. 

Richard Valentine-Selsey, research analyst at property company Savills, said a lot of new entrants were attracted to the sector last year. He added that it still had plenty of room to grow. 

Average seller pocketed nearly £100,00 in 2021

Meanwhile, what of individual sellers? A report by Hamptons said the average seller in England and Wales made themselves a tidy £95,360 last year. That’s if they had first purchased their home within the past two decades.

The biggest winners were owners of detached properties, whose profit margins were around £151,840. Owners of flats were less successful, with an average profit of £54,690 in 2021. In fact, one in five sellers of flats actually made a loss on their property. This compared to one in four owners of detached houses.

But then, in the race for space last year city centre flats became the least sought-after property type. Large detached homes – especially in greener areas and in coastal resorts were prized above all other forms of real estate.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: “Soaring house price growth over the last 18 months has driven up the amount of money homeowners have made… House price gains are primarily driven by two factors – the length of time people have owned their home, and the point at which they bought in the housing cycle.”

London home owners still making biggest profits

London sellers made the highest gains overall, but at £197,730 this was meagre compared to previous years. Sellers in the South East made an average £121,740 and those in the East, £109,980. In the West Midlands, the average profit was £68,190, in the North West it came in at £56,910 and Yorkshire and the Humber at £53,960. Sellers in the North East made the least profit at £28,960.

Last year saw the highest rise in property prices since just before the big recession in 2006. By December 2021 they were up 10.4 per cent annually, bringing the cost of the average home to £254,822, according to figures from the Nationwide Building Society.

That annual price rise of £23,902 was in direct opposition to what was happening with the rest of the UK economy. In fact, house prices went up far higher than household incomes did (the highest discrepancy since 1983, in fact). 

Omicron boosts house price growth

Repeated lockdowns and Brexit cast negative effects on thousands of companies, many of whom are still struggling to survive – especially with the onset of Omicron. 

The variant helped to boost house prices too, with many householders reluctant to put their property on the market in December for fearing of contracting the virus.

A spokesman for upmarket estate agents Savills said they have predicted a UK-wide 3.5 per cent rise in property prices for the whole of 2022. But that is only on condition that the pandemic-induced demands for more space and a more rustic or coastal setting abates. Probably the biggest effect on house prices this year will be whether or not the gap between buyer demand and property supply grows or shrinks.

Zoopla’s analysts agree this year’s property price growth will be around the three per cent mark. Director of research, Richard Donnell, reckons there will be around 1.2m property transactions this year (compared to 1.5m in 2021). Big growth areas, he surmises, will be the east Midlands and north-west England. 

Chief lenders at the Halifax are more cautious about house price growth, predicting just a one per cent rise over the next 12 months.

Average first deposit in London is £88,000

London is expected to remain in the doldrums with lower growth of 2%. Perhaps the figure for the capital isn’t surprising when you consider that the average 20 per cent deposit for a first-time buyer in London is £88,000. The sum was calculated by Nationwide in their December report and works out at 183 per cent of average gross income per annum.

Property in Wales sees biggest price rise

Of the four nations, Wales had the biggest house price rise last year. Figures from the Office of National Statistics showed an annual jump of 15.5 per cent in October year-on-year, bringing the value of the average property in the country to £203,224. Homes at the higher end of the market were particularly popular, with one Savills estate agent saying quadruple the number of homes worth at least £1million exchanged hands last year, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

In Scotland the figure was 11.3 per cent, bringing the cost of the average property to £181,391. Northern Ireland, there was a 10.7 per cent increase, resulting in an average £159,109 figure. England was the lowest at 9.8 per cent (lower, in fact, than the UK-wide price rise figure of 10.2 per cent), with the cost of the average property in England – excluding London – hitting 285,113.

Flats are back in demand, as more people slowly start to go back to work in cities. 

Rightmove says city apartments were the most searched for properties on its portal during autumn. Analysts say the figures appear to show that prospective house hunters’ demands for more space and greener pastures is coming to an end – or at least slowing down significantly.

The statistics were revealed prior to the latest omicron spread. But it is still a sign that the market was reverting to ‘normal.’ Certainly, buyers were beginning to look to cities again, with hybrid working beginning to replace working from home.

“Although there was less demand for flats when the market reopened, with more availability than other property types, and more steady average asking price growth over the last year, flats could be a good opportunity for people looking to move or to get on to the ladder next year,” said Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data. 

Flats increase in value more than detached houses

Figures from high street lender Halifax paint a similar picture, with flats selling for 10.8% more in November compared to the previous year. Prices for detached houses had increased too – but at 6.6%, the rise was less than that for flats.

Halifax predictions are for a slowing down in price rises next year due to increased inflation affecting household incomes.

According to the government’s Office for National Statistics UK inflation was the highest for a decade at 5.1% in November.

Londoners spend record sum moving out of city

Other figures – this time by Hamptons – show that Londoner’s spent £54.9bn on properties outside of the cities this year. That was equivalent to 112,000 properties and was an increase of 62% on the previous year. The average price of property in London has increased by almost £36,000 over the last year with the figure now at £486,890. 

Mortgage lender offers seven times salary

With the easing of restrictions on the amount of money lenders could offer borrowers recently, one lender has announced particularly generous terms. Habito has said it will lend borrowers a mortgage sum of up to seven times their salary. 

If it’s a joint application then one person will have the seven multiple, while the other’s salary will be capped at five times their income. The main stipulation is that the Habito One mortgage is a fixed deal – for up to 40 years. Interest rates start at around 2.99%.

The typical borrowing rate at the moment is 4.5 times a salary although it has edged up to 5.5 times for borrowers at Halifax and HSBC.

To qualify for the Habito ‘seven times salary deal’ borrowers must work in particular professions, such as nursing, teaching, the police or fire service, and have a take home salary of around £25,000 per annum. They will also need to put down a 10% deposit.

One analyst warned that allowing borrowers to take out bigger sums could lead to a rise in house prices “in the same way the stamp duty holiday did.”

By the end of the year, one in 16 private households will have moved home – that’s how busy the UK housing market has been in 2021. 

It’s the busiest, in fact, for 14 years, according to Zoopla. But then, never before has there been such an influence on home-working, thanks to the pandemic. For those who like statistics, analysts predict reckon this year’s frenetically-paced housing market will have recorded 1.5 million housing completions by December 31.

The property portal also calculated annual house price rises at 6.9% in November, with the average property having gained £15,000 in value over the course of the year. Nationwide’s Housing Index put growth even higher – at 10% annually (that was an increase on October’s 9.9%). The high street lender records the cost of the average UK property at £252,687.

Sales slumped by more than half in October

The November increase in property values is despite the fact sales plummeted to half that of the previous month in October (52% less, according to official HMRC figures) as people rushed to complete transactions prior to the Stamp Duty deadline.

In fact, Bank of England figures show mortgage approvals were the lowest in October since July 2020. 

And, with interest rates expected to rise next month, will sales start to dry up and prices stabilize? Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at the Knight Frank believes so. 

 “Gravity-defying price growth is the result of low interest rates and tight supply, which are both things we expect to reverse next year, putting downwards pressure on prices,” he said.

Rival property portal Rightmove predict 2022 will see a 5% rise in asking prices, increasing the cost of the average property by £17,000. But it will be nothing like this year’s turbo rise. 

Head northwards for bigger price increases

Property in some areas will fare better than others. Right now, Yorkshire & the Humber, Scotland, the south west and the West Midlands are the hot spots for buyers. 

Central London properties picking up

London has been slow this year, with more buyers moving out rather than in to the capital. As a result, house prices have risen by an average of around just 2%. And that doesn’t look to be getting any better over the next couple of years either, with growth expected to be between just 1% and 1.5% annually. 

Only luxury properties in Central London are expected to do well next year as more international buyers appear in the capital now that the lifting of lockdown has made travel easier for more areas.

A flourishing private rental sector

And what of the private rental sector? With demand continuing to outstrip supply – especially when it comes to high-quality rental property – there is only one way that prices can go – and that’s up, of course. As a result, the Build to Rent sector, together with Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) are both proving extremely popular with investors. Lloyds bank and John Lewis are just two of the high street names having declared an interest in becoming large-scale landlords in the past year.

A super-fast internet connection can add £5,000 to the value of a property, according to more than 294 UK estate agents.

The comment came on the back of a survey which showed that a great broadband connection ie ‘full fibre’ is a main priority for many house buyers. To the extent that 34 per cent of buyers surveyed by Omdia said they wanted speeds of more than 300Mbps. Another 23 per cent are demanding 1 Gbps.

Broadband second only to property size

The main priority for house buyers, according to the survey was the size of their property (23 per cent), closely followed by 20 per cent stating that broadband quality was their number one. A further 18 per cent said they were more interested in the number of bedrooms, 10 per cent the age of the house or apartment was more important, while nine per cent said they would prioritise transport links.

“Poor wi-fi and a bad mobile signal can be a deal breaker,” admitted one estate agent, “while fibre broadband adds to the appeal.”

All homes to have full-fibre broadband by 2026

Telecoms regulator Ofcom say around 18.2 million homes (62 per cent) already have access to 300Mbps or faster, according to their research. The government meanwhile say they will fit out every home in the UK with full-fibre and gigabit-capable broadband by 2025.

A spokesman for London-based estate agent Foxtons admitted internet connections had increased in importance since the pandemic, in particular, but that buyers still valued schools and local amenities, as well as the size of a property.

Narrowing of the north-south property price divide

Meanwhile, predictions from another estate agent also made headlines this week in the property press. Upmarket Savills says it expects the north-south property price divide to narrow considerably over the next five years. 

Both areas will still see growth – albeit northern growth should be higher than southern – but overall house prices could have increased by 13 per cent by the time 2026 comes around, they say. This is broken down into 4.5 per cent for Yorkshire and the Humber and the north-west over the next year, two per cent for London and three per cent for the rest of the UK.

The north’s ‘affordability cushion’

A company spokesman said: “There remains more of an affordability cushion beyond London and the south. The government’s levelling-up agenda has the potential to accelerate a rebalancing of the market but only if it gains meaningful traction.”

Despite the bigger increases in the north, London prices will still remain far higher with forecasts of property averaging £713,987 in the capital by the end of 2026, compared to averages of £272,732 in the north-west and £266,417 in Yorkshire.

Rental growth even higher than capital increases

And it is not only capital growth that Savills predicts will rise into double digits by 2026 – rental price growth is also expected to be up. And analysts at Savills say that will outshine capital growth at 19.9 per cent by 2026.