Cannes do cash
There aren’t many councils or housing associations at this week’s Mipim event in Cannes, but those that have made the trip (One Housing Group, Swan Housing Group, Harvest Housing Group, Edinburgh and Manchester councils) are doing business and attracting investors from the Middle and Far East as well as the US. You could argue that these international investors could just as easily come to the UK so why bother with Cannes. The point is they do not.
UK residential investment - particularly in the private rented sector - is seen as the place to be and investors are eager to get a slice of the pie. The key message is that it is not just the institutions, which the Homes and Communities Agency has found so elusive, but smaller, more nimble investors less hung up on yield that want to invest in the UK’s residential market. There are other sources of funding out there; the HCA and its affordable rent programme is not the only game in town.
