Specialist rental platform, Ocasa, claims that England’s Private Rented Sector (PRS) could surpass 5 million homes by 2025. 

Over the past decade, the sector has grown by 18.8% meaning the number of homes has increased from 4.1 million to nearly 4.9 million. 

The fastest growing regions

The South West saw the fastest growth during this period. Overall there was 31.2% of growth from 404,768 homes to 530,975.  

The West Midlands market has grown by 25.4%, the London market has grown by 21.7%, and the North East has grown by 17.3%.

Based on these historic growth trends, Ocasa has predicted how the Private Rented Sector will perform in the future, based on these trends of the past. 

According to the rental platform between today and 2025, dwelling stock totals could increase by a further 6.4% in England. This addition of 313,906 homes would bring the national total to just under 5.2 million.

The highest total of new homes is expected to be added to the PRS in London (68,336), the South East (47,500), and North West (38,075).

Whereas some of the smallest increases will be seen across the North East where just 13,291 new homes could be added by 2025.

Sales and marketing director at Ocasa, Jack Godby, commented: “The government is trying to dampen the Private Rented Sector by making it less and less cost effective to purchase additional homes for investment purposes such as buy-to-let. But there is still a huge need for rented homes in England – not every can or wants to buy their own home.”

“Perhaps the new PM’s latest tax incentives will give a boost to the market, but in order to ensure that there are enough good homes for those who need them, more still needs to be done to make buy-to-let more attractive for landlords.”