Over £100bn will need to be invested to build as many as 600,000 new homes, just to satisfy forecasted rising demand for private rented UK accommodation by 2021, according to a new report by Hometrack.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack said: "Demographic changes are the primary driver of future demand for rented housing."

The report highlighted three main factors that will cause demand for private rental accommodation to soar: Unaffordable house prices, net migration and changes in attitudes towards renting as a desirable tenure choice.