Supply and demand is a constant topic of conversation within the wider UK housing market, but specifically within the private rental sector (PRS), especially as the former has appeared to shrink, and the latter has continued to increase.

There are some however who believe the impact of that is negligible. The Resolution Foundation’s recent report, entitled ‘Through the roof: Recent trends in rental-price growth’, argues landlords leaving the sector and selling up is ‘highly unlikely’ to be a prominent factor in the recent increase in rents.

While I will keep my powder dry on this – it is after all very difficult to quantify the number of landlords who have sold up and the number of properties that have left the PRS – I can’t quite believe that rental pricing, and its ongoing increases, is nothing to do with increased demand.

That, to me, would be self-evident. There are a lot of well-rehearsed arguments for this – increased house prices, the difficulty in saving for a deposit and meeting lenders’ affordability measures, low growth in incomes in recent times, etc – all mean that more people, who historically might well have become homeowners, are unable to make that move.

Not forgetting those who actually want, or need, to rent, the increase in single-person households, shifting work patterns, social mobility needs etc.

However, what I would also say – and what often seems to be completely disregarded in terms of any UK housing debate, whether it is PRS- or owner-occupation-related – is where a significant part of new housing demand emanates from, namely the increase in the UK’s population.

In 2004 the UK population was literally just under 60 million; currently it is just under 68 million, and the ONS anticipates it will pass 70 million by mid-2031. Now this projection is actually lower than it was predicted to be in 2016, however you can see that a 10 million increase by 2031 means the UK population will have increased by a sixth.

Where do those people live when housing supply has not kept pace, and as mentioned, where it has become more difficult to buy a home? The answer, of course, is the PRS, but as we know, its supply is not keeping pace either.

Here however is a point the Resolution Foundation make which I do agree with – they say, when a property does move out the PRS into owner-occupation, it is leaving a bigger hole to be filled. That is because individual homes in the PRS are, as it calls it, more ‘intensively occupied’ than those in owner-occupation.

That, in my view, is an apparent nod to – what we have seen in the PRS – namely landlords refurbing, or buying, properties which can house more tenants in a single dwelling as a HMO, or a multi-unit block. This is not just about meeting the greater tenant demand, but certainly as mortgage and general property costs have increased, landlords have needed to look at properties which deliver a greater yield. And, as we know, HMOs/MUBs, etc, tend to deliver this.

What we can extrapolate here is the PRS market is likely to continue to shift in this direction. Greater demand for property is already dictating the situation, and landlords have for some time recognised the benefits of owning these – it’s why we launched our ‘Solutions by Foundation’ range earlier in the year.

A suite of products and criteria that are specifically designed for these more specialist property types, be it HMOs – where we have no bedroom limit – or MUBs – which we consider up to 10 units – and importantly, we are not asking landlord borrowers to have previous experience in this space. We recognise that landlords of more traditional property types want to either convert existing property or diversify their portfolios, not least because the greater demand is there.

In that sense, particularly for those landlord borrowers who are new to this area, having an adviser who fully understands these more specialist sectors, who knows what is required, who – importantly – knows what lenders like Foundation can offer them, and can hand-hold them through the process, pointing out the risks and the responsibilities, is likely to be a real benefit. Plus, it will carve out an advisory niche, and given the way the market is heading, lead to a lot of repeat business.

Grant Hendry is director of sales at Foundation Home Loans