Introducing Build to Rent (BTR) data for StudentCrowd customers

If you’re setting the rent on a development, or judging whether a city is getting oversupplied, PBSA beds are only part of the competing supply. BTR blocks compete for the same renters. Until now, you had to pull that stock from a separate source and line it up by hand

Not any more. When we raised our Series A in April, we said BTR would be the next addition to the StudentCrowd dataset.

We’re delighted to announce it’s now live. BTR now sits next to PBSA and co-living in the StudentCrowd UK dataset, starting with Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool and London.

For a quick explainer of what’s included and how you can access BTR data, read on…

What you can expect

A new BTR designation in your StudentCrowd dataset

Every BTR property is tagged with its own designation, sitting alongside PBSA and co-living. This means that BTR sits in the same dataset as your PBSA data and you’ll be easily tell BTR properties apart.

BTR Supply, counted in units

BTR scales by units, so supply is measured in units, where a unit is a whole home, the way the market itself reports it. There's no minimum size, so smaller schemes are in too, and bed counts stay with PBSA.

Tenancies and pricing

Each property carries its tenancy types and, where operators publish them, prices and availability at the unit level. BTR tenancies tend to be rolling or long-term rather than tied to an academic year, and pricing is per unit.

Features and location

Alongside amenities and building features, each record carries location: postcode, coordinates and the nearest university by proximity.

How it's captured

Like our PBSA data, we capture every BTR property by hand from public sources and check it against a written methodology. Prices and availability are refreshed monthly.

Where it covers

Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool and London are live today, with more UK cities expected before the end of the year.

How you access it

You’ll be able to access BTR data through the Raw Data export and the Public API, same schema as PBSA. The new fields are additive, so your existing fields and figures don't change. We will switch it on city by city.

Who it's for

If you’re an asset manager, investor or lender, you can use BTR data to evaluate supply and saturation in the cities above. It’s also invaluable for anyone pricing or benchmarking against the wider rental market in these cities.

FAQ

Is BTR in the Insights tool?

Not yet. BTR data is delivered through the Raw Data export and the Public API, with Insights integration on the roadmap.

How do you measure BTR?

In units, where a unit is a whole home. PBSA will continue to be measured by beds.

What counts as BTR?

We designate BTR as self-contained rental homes in institutionally owned, professionally managed blocks, open to anyone. PBSA is student-only and tied to the academic year. Co-living comes with shared space and all-inclusive billing. We apply the split at capture, against the methodology.

Which cities are next?

We're expanding coverage city by city, with more UK cities expected before the end of the year.

How do I get access?

If you’re an existing StudentCrowd customer, talk to your account manager about how you can get the most out of the new BTR dataset.

If you’re not yet a StudentCrowd customer, but you’d like to know more, book a call.