Grainger experiences 'strong' YTD rental growth

Residential property business Grainger said on Wednesday that it had seen "strong rental growth" in the four months ended 31 January.

Total like-for-like rental growth was up 8.3% so far in the company's trading year, ahead of the 6.1% growth seen at the same time a year earlier, while PRS rental growth was up 8.4%, and regulated tenancy rental growth was 7.6%.

Occupancy in the group's PRS portfolio also remained high at 97.2%, down slightly from the 98.7% figure seen at the same time in January 2023.

Grainger also noted that it continued to see "strong pricing", achieving average sales prices 2.6% ahead of valuations, and that it had benefitted from "good levels of liquidity" in the residential sales market.

Looking forward, Grainger said the "strong, compelling fundamentals" of the UK residential rental market continue to underpin its investment case, with demand for renting, and its product specifically, remaining "exceptionally high".

"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," said Grainger.

As of 0815 GMT, Grainger shares were down 1.00% at 258.40p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com