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Thousands of rental homes hoovered up by US giant in bet on Britain’s housing shortage

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The first homes will be completed by the end of June this year, with the majority finished within the next two years.

Blackstone manages more than $1 trillion in assets and is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. 

Single-family homes are the fastest-growing part of Britain’s build-to-rent sector in terms of investment. 

While investment in build-to-rent flats roughly halved between 2021 and 2023, shrinking from £4.6bn to £2.6bn, investment in single-family homes nearly doubled from £1.1bn to £2bn, according to analysis by JLL property consultants.

In the first three months of this year, single-family homes accounted for the largest share of investment in the build-to-rent sector. 

Investors piled £620m into build-to-rent family homes, £170m more than they spent on build-to-rent flats.

The single-family build-to-rent sector is expanding at a time when overall housebuilding has slumped, as high mortgage rates squeeze demand.

In the last three months of 2023, the number of starts on new homes slumped by 51pc year-on-year to 19,080, government data showed.

Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive at Vistry Group said: “By working in partnership with organisations like Leaf Living we can maximise the number of high-quality homes we deliver every year.  

“This year we are on track to deliver more than a 10pc increase in new home completions, playing a key part in helping to address the UK’s acute housing shortage.”

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