Retirement housing specialist Pegasus wants to become a big player in Build To Rent and has employed the  Savills agency to help.

After securing “a significant investment loan facility with Barclays” it has revealed a pipeline of six new development sites creating over 300 homes, due to start construction in early 2024. These new communities will be available solely for rent to the over 60s community. This is on top of its existing 26 communities which already offer rental as a tenure option.

Pegasus parent firm Lifestory has engaged Savills to source a “like-minded strategic investment partner” to assist in funding the future rental-only schemes 

Pegasus chief executive Steve Bangs says: “Our move to become the market leading Build to Rent developer and operator for seniors comes as a direct result of our customers selecting rental as their preferred option … Renting is flexible, allowing our customers to be more agile when moving, as well as providing greater financial freedom and the ability to choose to move closer to family and friends. The need is clearly there, and we are responding to it.”

Recent analysis shows that those aged 55 to 64 years, alongside those aged 65 years and older, are the fastest growing segments of the private rented sector since 2020.

And Knight Frank claims the number of private rental properties for seniors is expected to increase by 166 per cent over the next five years from almost 5,000 currently to more than 13,000.

Bangs concludes: “As we prepare for this change, we will continue to offer both home purchase or renting as options across all 26 existing communities available to move into today, before moving to be exclusively Build to Rent.”