Grainger sees rents rise and forecasts more growth over year ahead

Residential landlord Grainger has reported a jump in rents and predicted further growth over the year ahead as demand shows no sign of letting up.

The firm, the UK’s largest residential landlord with about 12,000 homes, reported like-for-like rental growth of 6.3% for the year to the end of September.

While this is down from 7.7% growth the previous year, Grainger said the rental market in the UK has been buoyed by a “rapidly accelerating growth in demand, whilst supply remains constrained”.

It said rental growth will ease back in 2024-25, but continue to be supported by high wage growth.

Helen Gordon, chief executive of Grainger, said: “Whilst we expect rental growth to ameliorate somewhat, we still expect levels to be above the long term historic average for 2024-25.

“Rental growth in 2024-25 will be underpinned by continuing high levels of wage growth throughout the UK and particularly in our target customer demographics and geographical locations.

“Affordability remains healthy and customer satisfaction scores remain high, demonstrating the sustainability of our rental income growth going forward,” she added.

Ms Gordon also cheered Labour government plans not to introduce rent controls.

“The Government’s proposals to reform the planning system to stimulate housing supply and raise standards in the rental market is equally welcome and aligns to Grainger’s strategy and existing standards,” she said.

The company said it was “fully let” across its houses, with 97.4% occupancy as at the end of last month, down from 98.6% a year ago.

Comparable rental growth of new lets across its portfolio stood at 5.6% in the past year to September 30, with renewed lets at 6.8%, the firm said.

Grainger added 1,113 new homes to its portfolio in the year.

It will report full-year results on November 21.