Lloyds Banking Group is planning the enter the private housing rental market through their Citra Living brand.

This is a fascinating example of business diversification and follows on from the news that retailer John Lewis is also looking to enter the housing rental sector.

They plan to build a rental network of thousands of homes which - within the space of a few years - could make them Britain's largest private landlord.

An era of very low interest rates has cut the profitability of mortgage lending and Lloyds, which is already the UK’s largest mortgage lender, is hoping that its existing knowledge of the property market will give it a competitive edge as it looks to drive alternative revenue streams and find a pathway to higher profitability by moving away from their traditional core business.

The long term shortage of properties to buy and rent shows few signs of easing and - prior to the pandemic - housing rents have risen much faster than inflation.

It has been reported that Lloyds has agreed a partnership with FTSE 100 housebuilder Barratt.