Residential Transactional and Living Markets
Residential Investment
Overview
Q1 2026 has seen the positive momentum from previous quarters continue across the UK residential investment market. Those operating in this sector will be familiar with the backdrop against which we have had to work over the past several years following Brexit — Covid, the Truss mini-budget, successive general elections, fiscal events, the ongoing evolution of the Renters’ Rights Act, and now the escalating conflict in the Middle East. It is a market that has, seemingly without pause, had to navigate one form of upheaval or political shock after another. And yet, despite this, the residential investment market has remained not only active but genuinely strong throughout.
Student Housing
National Picture
The early indications from the Office for Students (OfS) indicate the 2025 intake for universities based in England trended positively against recent years. In 2024 we know the total number of students declined by 1.7%; despite undergraduate numbers growing 2.5%, postgraduate recruitment fell by a massive 16%. Early data for 2025 suggests this trend was reversed with postgraduate student numbers up 1.7%, contributing to an overall increase in total student numbers of 2.4% year on year.
Residential Development
The start of 2026 carried a certain optimism that has, as the year progressed, become more cautious as the months tick by. January and February saw a notable uptick in sentiment, driven by a broader feeling of momentum and buoyed by the interest rate improvements seen towards the end of 2025. That positivity has since been tempered by a confluence of geopolitical and structural headwinds. The conflict in the Middle East has introduced fresh uncertainty, with developers and lenders reassessing their exposure, both in terms of development finance rates and the direct impact on build costs through energy prices and materials supply chains.