The chief executive of Grainger, the listed company which is Britain’s biggest landlord, predicts the market will get worse in terms of constrained supply. 

Grainger chief executive Helen Gordon says, in narrative for her company’s buoyant half year results: “The Renters’ Rights Bill, entering its final stages of debate and scrutiny in the House of Lords, will professionalise the rental market and raise standards, something that Grainger has been forging the way forward for many years. 

“Grainger, in the main, is already aligned to the new legislative landscape with our focus on high management standards, good quality customer service and high-quality, energy efficient properties. We are very well positioned to continue to perform strongly. 

“That said, it is likely that many smaller, private individual landlords will find the new regime challenging and will therefore accelerate their exit from the market, further constraining supply.”

The results show pre-tax profit in the half year ended March 31 totalled £74m, contrasting with the previous year’s £31.2m loss.

Gordon says Grainger is “driven by our new openings, growth in underlying rents and our ability to leverage our central costs and operational platform. Our properties are in high demand and our portfolio remains fully let with occupancy at 96% with a strong customer demographic base and stable and healthy levels of affordability.

“The expansion of our Build To Rent portfolio is accelerating our earnings growth” she says, anticipating a 50% revenue growth by 2029.

“Residential, specifically private rented residential, has proven its resilience through the cycle compared to other real estate asset classes with excellent rental growth protecting valuations and we are seeing continued valuation growth. Investment activity in the Build To Rent sector is very buoyant with reports of more than £1 billion of investment activity in Q1 this year.”

Gordon cites future growth to be some 20% more rental demand between 2021 and 2031 as well as the opportunity to grow market share, as BTR currently represents only 2.3% of the total rental market.