Residential property group Grainger has enjoyed record levels of trade amid ‘exceptionally high’ rental demand, which it says shows no signs of slowing.
The group told investors on Wednesday it had seen ‘strong rental growth’ in the four months to 31 January, with Grainger lining up thousands of new buy-to-let builds.
The London-listed group said it expects rental growth to continue to be ‘higher than historic averages’ throughout the remainder of its financial year.
Grainger shares rose 2.38 per cent or 6.2p to 267.20p on Wednesday, having risen nearly 4 per cent in the last year.
Growth mode: Grainger own and manages over 9,000 rental homes across the UK
The group saw total like-for-like rental growth of 8.3 per cent to date in its trading year, up from 6.1 per cent at the same time 12 months earlier.
Private rental sector (PRS) growth jumped 8.4 per cent, and regulated tenancy rental growth increased by 7.6 per cent, the group said.
Occupancy in the group’s PRS portfolio remained high at 97.2 per cent, but this was down slightly from the 98.7 per cent level seen at the same time in January 2023.
Grainger said it continued to see ‘strong pricing’, achieving average sales prices 2.6 per cent ahead of valuations, adding that it had benefitted from ‘good levels of liquidity’ in the residential sales market.
The group, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, currently boasts a £3.3billion operational portfolio of around 10,200 homes and a £1.6billion pipeline of a further 5,634 build-to-rent homes.
Helen Gordon, chief executive of Grainger, said: ‘Since our year end results in November, we have completed 307 homes at The Copper Works in Cardiff and continue with the phased delivery of homes at Weavers Yard in Newbury, with leasing in line with our underwriting assumptions
‘In the next month we will see two new build-to-rent schemes launching in Birmingham and Bristol totalling 606 homes.’
Looking ahead, Grainger said the ‘strong, compelling fundamentals’ of the UK residential rental market continue to underpin its investment case, with demand for renting, and its offerings in particular, remaining ‘exceptionally high’.
It added: ‘We continue to achieve record levels of rental growth, and should wage growth ameliorate later this year, we expect rental growth to continue be higher than historic averages, driven by our market-leading operational platform.
‘With local and national elections later this year, we are comfortable that political and regulatory risk for our business is low and that our responsible approach to delivering high-quality rental homes for the mid-market is very much aligned to the main political parties’ priorities.’
Grainger own and manages over 9,000 rental homes across the UK, operating principally in cities.
The group will announce its half year results for the six months to 31 March on 16 May.
