“This is the first election for decades where all of the main parties are talking so much about housing, about planning, and about infrastructure,” says Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation (BPF), UK real estate’s biggest lobby group, as she addresses the head honchos of the UK’s largest property companies.
Around the table are the bosses of Segro (SGRO), Land Securities (LAND), British Land (BLND), Grainger (GRI) and NewRiver (NRR), as well as the head of Legal & General’s (LGEN) real assets business. They have assembled to unveil the BPF’s election manifesto, a shopping list of policies and strategies about which it and its members have been holding conversations with both the Conservatives and Labour in the run-up to the general election, expected at some point this year.
The stakes are high. Real estate investment trust (Reit) share prices and property values have plunged over the past 18 months at rates not seen since the last financial crash, but the BPF panel believes the election presents an opportunity. According to YouGov, housing ranks behind only the economy as voters’ most important issue, and BPF says the right policies could drive investment in large-scale real estate projects that regenerate communities, deliver infrastructure and create homes. Left unsaid is that the projects could also mean high returns for Reits and their shareholders – assuming their asset values and share prices recover as rates stabilise.