British Property Federation (BPF) analysis has revealed the state of play, with BTR construction starts falling by 37% in the wider regions.

This research was for the fourth quarter of 2025 but included year-on-year summaries.

According to the BPF, the decline in starts was due to the BTR sector being hit by economic headwinds and delays from the Building Safety Regulator.

This was despite an overall uplift in BTR construction across the country in general.

In terms of completions, the fourth quarter saw this reach 146,700 units which corresponded to a 13% year-on-year increase nationally.

At that point there were 12,800 homes under construction in London and 37,800 outside the capital.

The BPF also gauged further supply by analysing planning permission figures.

The total number of BTR homes in planning increased by 2% in the 12 months to Q4 2025, to over 101,500 homes.

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The number of homes in planning in Q4 2025 was 42,536 in London and 58,926 in the regions.

Danny Pinder, director at the BPF, has warned the delivery of purpose-built rental homes needs to be accelerated as PRS supply continues to be pressured from regulatory pressures.

This, he argued, meant that delays in construction needed to be tackled to alleviate pressure on those developing BTR schemes.

“Changes implemented at the Building Safety Regulator towards the end of 2025 are showing signs of having an encouraging impact on the speed of decision-making,” said Danny.

“If 2025’s regulator delays can be eliminated in 2026, this should help remove one significant barrier to the delivery of new homes and alleviate some of the viability challenges developers are facing.

“Nevertheless, today’s statistics highlight the scale of difficulties facing the sector and the housing delivery pipeline [in] 2026.”