Build rent specialist Grainger has boosted its development pipeline to £1.4bn after buying two big sites.

The pipeline now stands at 4,730 new homes following the acquisition of two sites for direct development in existing target locations for the firm.

In Cardiff the site purchased has potential for up to 405 BTR homes, building on Garinger’s existing asset, The Copper Works  of 307 homes.

A new Sheffield site has potential for up to 193 BTR homes, building on two existing completed schemes in Sheffield comprising 521 homes.

The private rental specialist revealed is development pipeline after announcing a strong performance in the year to Sepatember from a £3.4bn operational portfolio of 11,069 private rental homes.

Helen Gordon, chief executive, said: “Building on last year’s record, we have delivered another strong year of growth, adding 1,236 new homes to our expanding nationwide portfolio.

“We added four new communities to our existing clusters in Birmingham, Bristol, London, and Manchester.

“Building on our national footprint of carefully selected locations, we now have meaningful scale in many cities across the country providing good quality rental homes into areas of high demand. We also opened our first scheme in Cardiff, The Copper Works.

“These new homes together with like-for-like rental growth of 6.3% have meant we have once again delivered double digit net rental income growth at 14% ahead of last year’s 12% growth whilst continuing to provide quality homes and communities. 

She added: “This coming year is the last financial year before Grainger converts to a REIT, a major milestone in our transformation to becoming the leader in the UK’s build-to-rent sector.

“Since setting out our strategy in 2016, we have invested £2.5bn into delivering new BTR homes, and at the same time delivered value by divesting £2bn from non-core businesses and assets.”

Gordon welcomed new Government housing policies.

“We have been pleased to see the new Labour Government’s public rejection of rent controls and the acknowledgement that such controls would hurt supply and investment.

“The market opportunity for the UK build-to-rent sector is considerable with demand for renting growing and the shortage of rental supply worsening, and with its proven track record, Grainger is best placed to help alleviate this through continued investment and housing delivery, accelerating our growth for years to come.”