As of late 2021, Build to Rent (BTR) remains a mythologised and largely untested product in the Australian residential market. Everyone gets that it’s an economically necessary housing model and a lot of developers believe it will be popular, but nobody is really sure of who will rent nor what amenities and services they will be prepared to pay for.

A global institutional BTR provider engaged us to ground their new Sydney-based project in a clear view on future audiences. Our approach was to blend quantitative and qualitative insights, creating a single set of psychographic profiles that vividly explained the types of customers they could target and what would drive their decisions around lifestyle, accommodation and spending.

With the building’s apartments largely designed but significant questions remaining about the retail and amenity offer, our research and design teams combined to provide a Customer Implications Brief to the project architects, helping sharpen up concepts for the amenity space, right-size the floor plans and provide a long-term view of the material palette and design styles that would appeal.