Single-Family Housing: The Home of Residential Investment

My white paper, entitled ‘Single-Family Housing: The Home of Residential Investment’ investigates all aspects of the emerging sector and considers the why, who, what, where & how of a sector that I believe will, within ten years, overtake BTR as the principle residential investment class for institutional investors.

Prompted by the close alignment between Howsy’s advanced management & lettings platform and SFH, the research reveals comprehensively that the UK is a lover of houses. In fact, 80% of the UK housing is houses and an astonishing 90% of us want to live in one.

It's difficult for those concentrating on Build-to-Rent to believe that they’re only tapping into a relatively small part of the UK market as they are deeply engaged in urban development and regeneration. Even the PRS is predominantly houses. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the institutional investor has turned to single-family homes.

The paper has contributions from Mark Farmer, CEO of CAST and the Government’s Modern Methods of Construction champion who discusses MMC’s part in delivering SFH’s sustainably and at scale. Brendan Geraghty offers a deep dive into ESG and design. This provides thought leadership for those entering the sector.

The paper describes the journey BTR and millennials (who turn forty this year) have taken together and points out that they are both ten years older. Each has matured and may have grown apart. The maturing of BTR’s principal cohort and their changing desires, wants and needs can now be satisfied by SFH’s ability to offer greater and more flexible space; both inside and out.

The pdf of the paper can be downloaded below.  Richard Berridge. June 2021