Property lending expert, Octane Capital, recently released new findings about the global total volume of privately rented properties.

The research concludes that the UK ranks fourth, with just the United States, Germany, and Japan retaining more rental properties. 

In order to obtain these rankings, Octane Capital analysed the size of the private rental market across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations based on the total number of homes. 

Global top five rental markets

The UK buy-to-let stock totals over 8.7 million homes, proving this makes up a large chunk of the 29.5 million homes within the current property market. 

With roughly 34% of the United States’ 139.7 million homes privately rented, America ranked first place in the Octane Capital research.

Germany ranks second with 20 million privately rented homes, Japan home to 8.7 million rental homes ranks third and the United Kingdom is in fourth place. While France ranks in fifth place with 8.3 million rental properties within the private rental sector. 

Chief executive officer of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, concludes: “The buy-to-let sector is a serious business and privately rented properties not only account for a third of all homes across the nation, but they also provide a home for many, many more tenants, who have been priced out of homeownership due to high house prices.”

“The sheer scale of our private rental market is clear when viewed in contrast to other nations around the world, with the UK sitting comfortably within the top five.” 

“While we will never rival the might of the United States due to the mismatch in geographical size, population and property market size, we could see the UK start to catch the other frontrunners as long term renting becomes more prevalent as a lifestyle choice.”

“This is already a commonplace occurrence in nations such as Germany where nearly half of all homes are privately rented in order to satisfy this demand. Should we see a similar trend emerge in the UK, there’s no doubt that the buy-to-let sector will continue to swell in size.”