According to knight frank’s 2024 Single Housing Family (SFH) report, investment into the properties soared by £1.9bn last year as investors acquired or funded the development of over 6,200 rental homes.
Launched yesterday, the report found that the amount of money that has been invested into SFH represents a fivefold increase compared to the £388m committed in 2022.
Overall, SFH investment accounted for more than 40% of all Build to Rent investment in the UK last year, with the remainder targeting multifamily apartment schemes and co-living.
Jack Hutchinson, a partner in the residential investment team at Knight Frank, said: ‘The single-family housing sector is experiencing a period of significant growth, as evidenced by a fivefold surge in investment volumes in 2023, reaching £1.9bn, compared to the previous year.
‘Despite an improving sales market forecasted, we fully expect this trend in increased investment volumes to continue into 2024 and beyond, thanks to a growing weight of capital attract to the sector by its strong fundamentals. In addition, developers and housebuilders are becoming more comfortable with the concept of incorporating single family housing into their wider sales and marketing strategies, which is helping to accelerate delivery of much needed housing.’
Whilst speaking with investors who are currently interested in SFH, Knight Frank, a global real estate consultancy and estate agency, discovered that together they plan to commit £17bn of capital to the SFH sector within the next five years.
Against this backdrop, the consultancy have said that if patterns continue, SFH rental units in the UK will almost triple from the current level of 26,575 homes.
Oliver Knight, Head of Residential Development Research at Knight Frank, added: ‘Our research provides clear evidence of the opportunities for single family rental housing to play a key role in addressing the UK’s housing shortage, particularly for families. The geographic distribution of the sector is broadening as institutional investors increasingly eye suburban markets across regions like the East of England and West Midlands to deploy capital at scale.’
Image: Nathan Dumlao
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