More prospective tenants seek ‘all bills included’ from Build to Rent homes
- Build to Rent properties that offer ‘all bills included’ have seen the highest growth in tenant enquiries compared with any other feature versus last year, new Rightmove analysis shows
- The other high growth areas, all seeing 22% increases, are those with a balcony, communal garden, properties allowing pets and zero deposits
- The Build to Rent study found that the biggest shift in the distribution of tenant demand compared to before the pandemic is towards one-bedroom properties, with renters favouring this type over studios
- Urban rents for all rental homes have recovered from their declines during the pandemic, and are now outpacing growth for both rural and suburban rents, up by 14% year-on-year
Analysis of features within Rightmove’s Build to Rent listings reveals a significant increase in demand for properties with all bills included. Over the past year enquiries from tenants have jumped by 36% for this type of property, the biggest increase out of all available features.
Homes with balconies, communal gardens, properties allowing pets and those offering zero deposits all came equal second, with enquiries jumping by 22%.
There has been an interesting shift in the distribution of total rental demand across studio, one-bed, two-bed and three-bed Build to Rent properties, with more prospective tenants now preferring a one bedroom property over a studio. This could perhaps be due to some people needing more space to work from home.
Throughout the pandemic we saw growth in demand for people looking to move to the countryside and to areas further out from cities, as cities temporarily fell out of favour during the lockdown restrictions. Rents in urban areas suffered as a result, but they have slowly been recovering, and are now growing at a faster rate than both rural and suburban rents.
