The current bricks and mortar value of the UK private rental sector (PRS) now sits at almost £1.4trn, research from Sequre Property Investment shows.
The buy-to-let specialist has compiled data on the number of current private rented dwellings across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and calculated the total value of these rental portfolios based on current property values.
The company estimates there are 5.5m privately rented homes across the UK, accounting for 19% of the entire property market. With the current average UK house price now at £254,624, this puts the PRS bricks and mortar value as high as £1.4trn.
4.8m homes within the sector reside within England alone. This places the total value of the English rental market at £1.3trn based on the current average house price of £271,434.
London accounts for 40% of this total market value, with the 1,042,000 rental homes located in the capital valued at nearly £519bn.
The South East (£234bn) and the East of England (£154bn) are also home to some of the most valuable rental markets, with rental stock in each region estimated to be worth more than £150bn.
Outside of England, Scotland ranks as the second most valuable rental market from a property standpoint, with the 371,000 privately rented homes worth nearly £64bn on the market.
In Wales, this current rental market value stands just shy of £38bn, with the Northern Irish private rental market valued at nearly £18bn.
Daniel Jackson, Sales Director at Sequre Property Investment, comments: “The private rental market is the backbone of the UK housing sector and plays an incredibly important role in providing homes for those that are unable to overcome the financial hurdles associated with homeownership.
“Despite this, we’ve seen a number of legislative changes implemented to deter landlords from the sector by a government that clearly has no idea what they are doing.
“While it may only account for 19% of the total market, reducing the size of the sector would leave many struggling to find an alternative option with regard to their living arrangements.”
The estimated worth of the dwellings within the PRS based on the number of dwellings and the current market value of a home in each nation or region.
| Location | All dwellings | Private rented | Private rented as a % of all | Average Property Value | Total est value |
| United Kingdom | 29,559,777 | 5,493,830 | 18.6% | £254,624 | £1,398,860,363,632 |
| England | 24,658,000 | 4,799,000 | 19.5% | £271,434 | £1,302,611,145,489 |
| Scotland | 2,650,000 | 371,000 | 14.0% | £171,448 | £63,607,184,256 |
| Wales | 1,437,567 | 204,955 | 14.3% | £184,297 | £37,772,604,137 |
| Northern Ireland | 814,210 | 118,875 | 14.6% | £149,178 | £17,733,512,868 |
| London | 3,634,000 | 1,042,000 | 28.7% | £497,948 | £518,861,773,174 |
| South East | 3,985,000 | 670,000 | 16.8% | £350,016 | £234,510,389,824 |
| East of England | 2,733,000 | 497,000 | 18.2% | £310,200 | £154,169,527,431 |
| South West | 2,604,000 | 506,000 | 19.4% | £277,603 | £140,466,965,340 |
| North West | 3,334,000 | 556,000 | 16.7% | £189,245 | £105,220,424,552 |
| West Midlands region | 2,537,000 | 451,000 | 17.8% | £219,793 | £99,126,788,132 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 2,461,000 | 482,000 | 19.6% | £181,856 | £87,654,406,816 |
| East Midlands | 2,124,000 | 391,000 | 18.4% | £216,077 | £84,486,121,936 |
| North East | 1,246,000 | 203,000 | 16.3% | £143,129 | £29,055,143,233 |
Average house prices sourced from the Gov.uk – UK house Price Index (May 2021 – latest available).
Dwellings stock and tenure sourced from Gov.uk, Gov.wales, NRS Scotland and Gov.scot, NISRA and finance-NI-gov.uk.