The bidding process for Build to Rent (Round 2) was closed on 31st of October as bidders, looking to get a share of the £1bn of funding made available by Government, submitted their expressions of interest.

After an overwhelming response to the Fund, which was initially set at £200m, but later increased to £1bn, it is hoped that the extra finance will help deliver thousands of new private rented homes.

The first 45 projects were announced on 16 April 2013 and are expected to support the construction of between 8,000 and 10,000 rented homes, 25% of which will be in London.

Confidence is growing in the scheme and two separate reports found the numbers also 'stack-up' outside the currently booming areas of London and the southeast. Property consultancy EC Harris reported earlier this year that build-to-rent could work in more than half of English local authority areas (53%) without land discounts or subsidy. The report says the model could work in 172 separate local authority areas, 139 of which are outside of London, and cites university towns and areas with younger populations such as Brighton, Bath, Warwick and York.