Welcome to 2022 with your weekly round-up of the stories of this first week.
EG kicked off the year with our picks of build-to-rent’s 50 most influential.
These are not necessarily the most senior or experienced people in the sector – they are individuals who have made their mark in recent times, helping to advance BTR in a variety of ways, with new ventures, revealing research and appointments. Check to see if you made the cut here.
We also crunched the numbers after another record-breaking year for investment. In 2021, some £5.2bn was invested into 22,324 homes. Annual investment figures are more than double those of two years ago, a sign of investors flocking to stable residential assets in the UK during the pandemic. In 2019, £2.6bn was invested in BTR. The investment peak was driven by a flurry of deals in the final quarter, which saw £2.3bn committed, adding 8,264 homes, as funds rallied in the busiest period on record – with prime city schemes, new strategies and M&A all in play.
Record figures were buoyed by the landmark sale of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing’s stake in BTR platform Fizzy Living. Writing for EG this week, MTVH chief executive Geeta Nanda, said: “Having laid the foundations for a thriving BTR market, the time is right for MTVH to sell its minority stake in the business, and to use its pioneering spirit to forge new paths.”
Meanwhile, BTR investor Pension Insurance Corporation has called for urgent, extensive reform of insurance regulation to unlock “tens of billions” of investment in housing and infrastructure.
And Samantha Kempe, co-founder and chief investment officer at Immo Capital, said the secret to unlocking rental housing at scale comes down to the tools. “Single-family residential is an untapped asset class, where individual rental homes can be used to build diversified, low-risk portfolios,” says Kempe. “But in order to deliver this at speed and scale, harnessing data and technology isn’t just an idea, it’s a necessity.”
View the magazine, download the app (iOS and Android) and read on for more of the week’s headlines:
M&G strikes £200m senior living debut
Realstar pays £91m for Perfume Factory BTR
IRES acquires Clontarf BTR pair
Housing association scores £210m funding deal
Plans submitted for £200m Bournemouth redevelopment
Countryside and L&Q get green light for 215 homes in Acton
Year in review: Resi’s collapses, campaigning and a cabinet shuffle
To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@eg.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @EGPropertyNews
