Aviva Investors will partner with specialist build-to-rent developer Packaged Living to create a single-family rental platform for suburban homes across the UK.

The deal helps tilt the UK funding market away from the transient populations of multifamily BTR toward the safer, slower-moving world of long-term lettings to families who want security of tenure.

The partnership will be seeded with an initial allocation of up to 1,000 BTR homes in the south west, south east and Midlands.

The venture will target an initial portfolio of approximately £200M, with a pipeline of investments expected to add a further £500M in the coming months.

The £700M project looks at first glance like an abrupt turnaround for Aviva. Three years ago the house view was that BTR did not “meet an investor need.” However, the latest move heads squarely in the direction prefigured in 2018, which indicated that “from an institutional perspective investors were more interested in letting to a family who will want a degree of certainty in their tenure,” as Property Week reported.

The move comes as Goldman Sachs also takes a turn toward single-family BTR. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has agreed to buy up to 700 single-family BTR units from developer Urban&Civic as part of a three-year development deal. Pitmore is advising on development and management on behalf of Goldman Sachs.

The first project is an Urban&Civic joint venture with Aviva Investors at Houlton, Rugby.