Research and Briefings

Created in partnership with Savills, our latest Build-to-Rent (BTR) report provides an overview of the sector in the UK for Q2 2025. It analyses the status of BTR units across completed, under construction and planning stages, highlighting year-on-year changes and regional variations between London and other areas.

This research by the BPF, Savills and L&G highlights the significant change underway in the Private Rented Sector (PRS). In it, we explore the loss of rental homes out of the market at a much faster rate than they are being acquired, resulting in an estimated 290,000 home lost from the PRS since 2021, and the effects of this loss on renters. The research also points to the Build-to-Rent (BTR) market as a crucial solution alongside individual landlords, and the need for supportive policies that provide for increased BTR homes and stem the loss of individual landlords from the market.

In collaboration with Savills, the latest BPF Build-to-Rent Report highlights quarterly growth patterns and trends over the past decade, offering valuable insights into the current state of the property sector.

We and other stakeholders have consistently called for reductions in business rates – and yet there is very limited existing research which considers the wider economic consequences of maintaining high levels of business rates – or indeed, the benefits of a reduction in business rates.

Given the UK imposes a very high level of tax on property, over double the OECD average, this research seeks to better understand and quantify the implications of increases or decreases to the business rates burden on our wider economy.

The Government’s ambitious target of 1.5 million homes over the next five years is essential in the UK’s constrained housing market, with a stark undersupply of social, affordable, market-for-sale and privately rented homes.

Achieving this goal in the current fiscally constrained environment will necessitate exploring alternative sources of funding beyond traditional Government and private funding mechanisms.

In this paper, we detail the opportunities available using institutional capital and our four key policy pillars to deliver the change required.

The UK property industry is worth around £110bn to the economy, roughly 5% of UK GVA and supporting 1 in 13 jobs. It is a foundational sector underpinning all other economic activity that relies on the built environment to function.

It's also a sector that is very open to global capital investment. That's why the BPF has partnered with CoStar to produce 'Who Invests in UK Property?', which is the first of an annual series that will track trends in overseas investment into UK property. This will demonstrate the scale of such investment, as well as give indications as to who is investing and where that capital is going, both in terms of geography and asset type.

Through this report, we intend to inform policy-making so that it can understand and better support such investment into the UK, further growing the economy and helping achieve policy ambitions to build more homes, create more jobs and
regenerate town centres.

Our latest research examines the energy efficiency of commercial buildings across seven major UK cities. It highlights that 83% of buildings fall below the EPC B rating required to meet proposed 2030 regulations, emphasising the significant challenge of retrofitting properties and the lack of government clarity on energy efficiency standards.

In collaboration with Savills, the BPF is pleased to present the UK Build-to-Rent Q4 2024 Report. This report highlights quarterly growth patterns and trends over the past decade, offering valuable insights into the current state of the property sector.

On 17 December 2024, the Government published its response to the latest annual progress report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). This note provides a short summary of the response, highlighting issues of most interest to BPF members and the wider the real estate sector.

Following the UK Autumn Budget 2024, our analysis examines the key impacts of the Chancellor's statement on the property sector. Our analysis focuses on seven key themes, including:

• Tax and finance
• Housing
• Planning
• Life sciences
• Healthcare
• Regeneration and devolution 
• Net zero and clean energy

In partnership with Savills, the BPF are pleased to publish the UK Build-to-Rent Q3 2024 Report. The report presents the quarterly growth patterns and trends over the last 10 years, and demonstrates the position the property sector is in.

Following our Building Our Future campaign, our BPF Autumn Budget representation outlines how the UK property sector can work with the Government to make a significant contribution to national growth by building more homes, employment spaces, and critical infrastructure, revitalising town centres, decarbonising buildings, and embracing PropTech and data.