In this week's blog, we move back to the topic of UK housing supply, but this time, coming at the situation from a problem-solution perspective, taking an honest look at some of the problems the country faces with delivering housing supply, the types of supply we require, and some speculation on what may happen in the years to come, and how our sector may play a role in any legislative shift. Interestingly, the next decade's most pressing challenges in housing provision are areas that have received relatively little attention from the private sector in the past fifty years: social housing pro ..read more

In this week's blog, we look at the latest round of Nationwide house price data and look more closely at how our asset class uses diversification to benefit from the regional disparities in growth and decline rates. In realisation, the "UK housing market" is a multitude of independent markets subject to different forces that would be far too complex to be palatable as a headline. Hence, the data is often subject to a simple mean average percentage. As a business that manages elements of risk, we understand that the heterogeneity of investment portfolios balances out a degree of that risk. Tha ..read more

As we return from the Easter break, one story that slipped through the net at the end of quarter one was the report from the Resolution Foundation think tank, outlining how UK housing is now the "worst value for money of any advanced economy." This isn't a particularly noteworthy achievement as far as achievements go; however, if you drill down into the report, it's clear that the emphasis on increasing quality as part of the broader housing challenge can be sufficiently met by the legions of smaller developers our asset class brings to the market. So, surveying the damage, the critical point ..read more

As a reader of this blog, by the point of publication, you will be aware of the Bank of England's decision on base rate, ergo somewhat better positioned than we were at the point of writing to make judgements on what comes next. Given this is more of an observational piece than a blow-by-blow news bulletin, we have chosen to discuss the latest round of published inflation figures at the all-important point of writing. We will look at this information not necessarily as a news item but in the context of what it may mean as a trend indicator, how this data will affect confidence in the market ..read more

In this week's blog, we want to pause the news headlines for a week and refocus on one of our core products, the IFISA. Now, if you are reading this, you are aware of the 'ISA season' and the April deadline that is now looming, as well as the obvious opportunity to make the most of your investments. Rather than recap the calendar basics, we want to talk about the changes to the IFISA this year and take a closer look at the reasoning behind the underlying opportunity and, ultimately, why you should consider diversifying your portfolio with this asset class. The Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) w ..read more

By the time you read this blog, everyone in the industry will have had their say on the intricacies of the Spring budget, so rather than adding to that prolonged media highlight reel, we will sweep through the headlines in this week's blog touching only on what's important to our sector, and then laser focus in on housing and the IFISA. So, we assume everyone is aware of the cuts in the National Insurance, let's say no more about it. If you're here for a morality debate about disposable vapes, disposal of non-doms, or any other contentious topic debated in the budget, apologies in advance; th ..read more

At the point of writing this week's blog, we are now a week after the published Competition and Markets Authority report on the housebuilding market, the dust has settled a bit, and most industry voices have had their say on the findings. So, rather than this blog being a news headline-orientated piece, we are working on the assumption that most readers are aware at the point of reading that there were significant failings and concerns raised around the planning system, the quality of housing stock being produced, and the some of the practices of the prominent actors in the sector in and arou ..read more

In this week's blog, being a solution-orientated business, we are looking at the broader problematic elements our solution seeks to address. These elements are coincidentally the very opportunity that underpins the value in our asset class, the expansion of the UK housing supply. Interestingly, this week's blog concept was primarily inspired by an article in the Financial Times that questions how many units England needs to build. Unless you have been entirely adrift of the popular narrative over the last 24 months, you will be aware of the 300,000-unit per year housing target but rarely has ..read more

In this week's blog, we have a whole assembly of fascinating housing and lending-related glad tidings to choose from that have been lost in all this technical recession talk, so without further ado, let's extract those from the myriad of digital conjecture and have a closer look. At the time of writing, the ONS released its latest UK house price data report showing average UK house prices decreased by 1.4% in the 12 months to December 2023, up from 2.3% in the 12 months to November 2023. The average UK house price was £285,000 in December 2023, which was £4,000 lower than 12 months previous ..read more

This week, we will unpack some finer details of the proposed Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill and how unforeseen issues are already being foreseen. These are the unintended consequences of noble endeavours that may seek to derail the plans; however, firstly, a hasty jaunt around the good news stories of the day, as we never waste an opportunity to press home a good news story. According to a report in the Guardian, UK house prices rose 2.5% in the year to January, which would account for the most significant increase since January last year. This data has come from Halifax, who, in their la ..read more