Investment in the UK build-to-rent (BTR) sector reached £3bn during the first half of 2026, making it the second-strongest start to a year on record, according to new figures from JLL.
The total was 28% higher than a year earlier and 6% above the five-year average, with investment reaching the £3bn mark for only the second time after 2023.
JLL said the performance was driven by three significant single and multifamily portfolios traded in the second quarter – L&Q’s 3,200-home Metra Living portfolio, Lendlease’s Elephant Park development in London, and Blackstone’s sale of around 1,000 single-family homes from its Leaf Living business – which together accounted for £2bn of investment.
The figures marked a recovery from a subdued first quarter, when just £736m was invested.
Multifamily investment received a significant boost from the Metra Living and Elephant Park deals, with the sector accounting for two-thirds of all BTR transactions during the first half of the year.
Meanwhile, investment in single-family rental homes reached £1bn, 7% higher than a year earlier and 3% above the five-year average.
Despite the latest strong investment figures, JLL said funding for new multifamily development had fallen to its lowest level since at least 2015. Investment through forward funding, forward purchases and land acquisitions accounted for just 10% of multifamily investment during the first half of the year, compared with around two-thirds between 2023 and 2025.
JLL said this reflected the continuing challenges developers face in bringing forward new schemes, despite an increasing number of completed portfolios coming to market.
Karl Tomusk, associate in UK living research at JLL, said: “The headline numbers are, of course, encouraging and point to a market seeing considerable investor demand, including from institutions.
“But the challenge continues to be finding ways to make development stack up. Even compared to the last few years, which no one would have described as a walk in the park for development, the dearth of investment in new multifamily homes so far in 2026 is staggering.”
Tomusk said that while economic uncertainty remained, a recovery in development activity could follow if market conditions improved in what he described as “a fundamentally undersupplied sector”.