CBRE Investment Management Director Ann Xu and her team gave themselves an early Christmas present in 2023: a hatful of single-family rental deals. “A lot of investors like this space but were standing and watching and waiting for price discovery,” Xu told the audience at Bisnow’s UK Single-Family Rental Summit. “That was a great opportunity for us, and we were finalising deals right up until 22 December. And now in Q1, we’re very much on the lookout for new opportunities and allocating more capital.” The UK SFR market had a breakout year in 2023, with investment reaching £1.9B, according to data from Savills, a huge increase on the £360M invested in 2022. 
Last year was a perfect confluence of events. The sharp rise in interest rates stalled the housing market, meaning more people than ever needed to rent rather than buy. Increasing demand pushed up rents. And that same phenomenon enticed housebuilders to sell to SFR investors through bulk deals. But the sector has… Read the full story here. | 
