Key Themes of Build-to-Rent: Developing a Conceptual Framework for Achieving Successful Developments through a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

There is currently a pressing need for rental housing to be built and the Build-to-Rent (BTR) market is growing to address such housing demands. Existing research focuses on the financial and planning aspects of existing BTR markets. However, more research is needed to clarify the responsibilities and strategies of key stakeholders to achieve success in BTR developments. Moreover, as an emerging topic, identifying the key themes of research and future directions may be beneficial for the body of knowledge. This study critically analyses the existing research published on BTR and aims to identify their key themes and recommend strategies, via a conceptual framework, for achieving success in BTR developments. Systematic literature review methodology was employed to identify recent publications on the topic of BTR, utilising the databases Web of Science and Scopus. A total of 58 research publications from 2013 to 2023 were identified. Using Leximancer software, the identified literature was systematically and thematically analysed. The analysis identified four themes: (1) stakeholders’ influences on the uptake of the BTR model; (2) BTR as a viable model for addressing soaring rental housing demand; (3) tenant-oriented BTR development; and (4) design and construction management of BTR. This research combines these themes into a conceptual framework, provides useful recommendations to facilitate the implementation of BTR developments, and identifies future research directions for this topic.