JLL: Birmingham now UK’s largest regional BTR market
A 31% surge in its pipeline during 2025 means the city ranks second only to London in the size of its build-to-rent sector, the consultancy said in its Big Six Residential Report.
Birmingham now has 24,900 homes either operational or in development, including more than 15,000 in the pipeline. This represents 62% of its total market and the highest pipeline ratio across the UK’s six major regional cities.
This growth was underpinned by £370m of BTR investment during the year, split evenly between operational assets and forward funding deals.
As explained by JLL, this included the £109m sale of the 603-home Allegro scheme to North American investors Realstar and QuadReal – the largest operational Big Six asset to trade in 2025 – and Heim Global Investor’s commitment of more than £100m to forward-fund McLaren Living’s 456-home Oasis development in Kent Street.
Sphere Group, HBD, and Moda, which has brought forward several schemes, are also among those who have grabbed a piece of Birmingham’s rental market action.
As a whole, the UK’s six largest regional cities accounted for 46% of all multifamily BTR investment in 2025, as £1.1bn flowed into schemes across Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester – representing a 21% increase on 2024.
Birmingham also recorded the strongest house price growth across the six cities, with new build apartment values rising 4.8% annually, driven by demand for one-bedroom homes which saw prices increase 7% year-on-year.
William Cox, director of residential at JLL Birmingham, said: “Birmingham has emerged as the standout regional growth market for BTR. Strong demand, relative undersupply and competitive pricing compared to southern cities have created the perfect conditions for this scale of pipeline development.
“The investment we saw in 2025 demonstrates investor confidence in Birmingham’s fundamentals, particularly from international capital. North American investors acquiring operational assets like Allegro, alongside major forward funding commitments, shows this isn’t speculative – investors truly believe in Birmingham’s long-term rental demand.”
Karl Tomusk, associate in UK living & residential research at JLL, said: “Regional BTR has reached an inflection point. While high debt costs and regulatory changes have burdened the market in recent years, those headwinds progressively eased throughout 2025 with interest rate cuts and greater clarity on building safety regulations.
“The Big Six captured a record share of investment because fundamentals remain strong. Their pipeline grew 16% while the UK’s fell 7%, and all six cities are forecast to outperform UK-wide house price growth.
“But what’s striking is the divergence: Birmingham building at scale, Manchester facing supply constraints, Scotland unlocking frozen investment. These are fundamentally different investment propositions within regional BTR, and that sophistication should attract more capital.”
- You can view the full report here
