Background and Research

Supported by the Scottish Government, details of the "Building the Rented Sector" project were announced by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on 5 May 2013 who said:

“The project will pave the way for the industry to capitalise on the opportunities to attract new sources of finance, boost the supply of housing in Scotland and support jobs.

“The Government is responding to an industry request. The potential prize, for what is relatively small amount of project funding involved, is that house builders will unlock signifciant levels of investment in housing for wider social and economic benefit.

“We recognise the role of the rented sector in meeting the diverse housing needs of Scottish communities and want to enable growth so we are delighted to be able to support the house building industry in this way.”

Click here to read the full press release.

World-renowned experts in housing finance from Cambridge Centre for Housing & Planning Research and LSE London were appointed to undertake the research work.

Aiming to provide a better understanding of how institutional and other investors can be encouraged to invest in the provision of new rental housing at scale in Scotland and the economic reasoning behind these decisions, they conducted some 60 interviews with stakeholders in Scotland and London. This allowed them to clarify the policy environment, the barriers to investment, the different models used and the range of possible instruments to support investment. This analysis led to a set of recommendations to different stakeholders which, if followed through, could help encourage sustained increases in investment in rental property.

Click here to read the summary of recommendations and here for the full report.

Useful Links

Venn Partners