A property development firm says it’s to spend up to £500m in land acquisitions over the next three years, as part of a drive into the capital’s growing Build To Rent sector.

Avanton, which already undertakes some BTR development, says London suffers “a significant lack of high quality, purpose built, rental stock in relation to demand.”

The £500m will be spent in Islington, Southwark, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Hammersmith, Lambeth, Camden and Brent with a view to delivering up to 5,000 BTR units by late 2023. 

Avanton will focus on acquiring sites with land values of £20m to £100m which should produce 300 to 1,000 units each.

The firm has already begun to assemble pipeline projects. In Richmond it has a proposal for 453 homes on a former Homebase site, and on Southwark’s Old Kent Road there is consent for 1,414 homes, half of which will be BTR.

Avanton sales and marketing director David Ronson says: “We are seeking to expand our BTR, mixed tenure and private sale portfolios because despite the obvious challenges the property market has been extremely resilient and recovered rapidly after the lockdown. 

“This year the market sentiment has been cautiously upbeat as the UK has taken a global lead in vaccine rollout and we see great opportunity at this moment in the property cycle.”