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UK build-to-rent investment up 14% as suburban homes market soars
Investment in the UK build-to-rent (BTR) sector rose 14% last year, according to property agency CBRE.
Investment in the UK build-to-rent sector rose 14% last year, according to property agency CBRE #UKhousingTotal UK BTR investment volumes were just under £4.7bn in 2025, the agency reported. A further £1.9bn of investment is currently under offer.
CBRE said the BTR sector had seen a “measured rebound” last year, driven by an increase in active investors and growing confidence in the suburban houses, or ‘single-family’, rental market.
Single-family investment volumes reached £2.7bn, up 56% year-on-year, with £1.56bn transacting in the fourth quarter of 2025.
This includes the year’s largest single-family housing transaction: Northern LGPS & LPPI’s £1.1bn acquisition of PRS Holdco.
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Meanwhile, investment volumes in multifamily BTR – urban flats – totalled £1.97bn, down 16% year-on-year. £563m of urban flats was transacted in the fourth quarter of the year.
Single-family BTR accounted for 58% of total investment, while multifamily represented 42%. Single-asset transactions contributed £2.69bn, while portfolio deals totalled £1.93bn.
Key deals in 2025 included the sale of Gatehouse Living Group and TPG Real Estate’s 610-home Start Living portfolio to Lloyds Living, Penta and Ballymore’s joint venture to build 680 homes on the Isle of Dogs and in Nine Elms, and Blackstone’s Leaf living portfolio sale to Placefirst in the South East.
Andrew Saunderson, head of UK living capital markets at CBRE, said: “Our figures show attraction to the UK market remains strong, and looking ahead to 2026, we anticipate a continuation of increased transactional activity, as cautious optimism manifests into positive sentiment across the living sector.”
The single-family housing market currently shows no sign of slowing down this year. This week, Blackstone announced it is looking to sell the remainder of its single-family Leaf Living portfolio for over £1bn.
The sale comes after US president Donald Trump vowed to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes in America.
Some UK build-to-rent specialists have suggested Britain could see a wave of investment from American institutions no longer able to invest in the domestic market.
Others, meanwhile, have played down the impact of the president’s intervention in the UK. A law firm close to the UK single-family market told Inside Housing that the British market is already saturated with enough capital to go around.
The rise of single-family housing has been rapid, with it representing just 5% of BTR investment on average between 2018 and 2022.
The advantages of single-family homes for investors include lower operating costs compared to flats, which have lifts and communal spaces to manage, and the profile of tenants, who tend to be families and less transient in nature, reducing turnover and voids.
There are now 14,000 operational single-family homes in the UK and a further 13,000 under construction.
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