New research from Rettie reveals Build to Rent (BTR) becoming a more effective way of providing new housing across the UK. Although to date its use in Scotland has been fairly limited, this is changing and recent projects will supply more than 2,500 BTR schemes in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with another successful scheme operating in Aberdeen. Long established in the US and in many European countries, the catalyst in the UK was largely driven by the financial crisis and ensuing collapse in private house building and tightening lending constrictions, which flipped the tenure balance in the UK – currently 30 per cent of 16 to 34 year-olds are owner occupiers, and 41 per cent are in the private rented sector. While BTR is currently focused on city centre sites that target premium rents, Rettie has also been working to deliver affordable mid-market rental units with landowners such as Forth Ports. Rettie’s full BTR Market Briefing can be downloaded at rettie.co.uk
Source: heraldscotland