Research published by the British Property Federation (BPF) shows that the total number of build-to-rent homes – new, high-quality and professionally-managed homes built for renters – under construction across the UK has increased by nearly 40%.

To aid transparency on the sector and its growth, the research has been produced by Savills, commissioned by the BPF, and is published quarterly as an interactive map on the BPF’s website.

The latest findings follow a significant year of new housing policy from the Government, including a revised National Planning Policy Framework that now references build-to-rent specifically, to provide guidance for local authorities when dealing with planning applications from the sector.

There are now 139,508 build-to-rent homes in the UK, of which 29,416 are complete, 43,374 under construction and 66,718 in planning. The overall total is an increase of 22% over the last year. The number of homes completed is up by 29% over 2017, while the number in planning has increased by 10% over the past 12 months.

However, the largest increase is for the number of build-to-rent homes that are under construction, which jumped by 39% last year from 31,250 to 43,374.