[Diggers350] An Englishman’s Home Is His Prison? Labour’s 1.5m homes will be dominated by private equity firms, charging huge rents

[Tony Gosling]

An Englishman’s Home Is His Prison? Labour’s 1.5m 
homes will be dominated by private equity firms, charging huge rents

<https://tlio.org.uk/an-englishmans-home-is-his-prison-labours-1-5m-homes-will-be-dominated-by-private-equity-firms-charging-huge-rents/>02 
March 2025 | 
<https://tlio.org.uk/author/tony/>Tony Gosling | 
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Labour’s 1.5m homes will be dominated by private 
equity firms charging huge rents

<https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/02/23/labour-build-to-rent/>by 
James Wright  23 February 2025
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/02/23/labour-build-to-rent/

Emacs!

The Labour Party’s pledge to build 1.5m new homes 
over this parliament risks being dominated by 
private equity in the Build to Rent sector, 
Common Wealth has warned in a new report.

Indeed, chancellor Rachel Reeves has tied herself 
to fiscal rules to embed the neoliberal market 
throughout government planning. In her budget, 
she pledged money for the Build to Rent sector in 
order to ‘crowd in’ private investment, rather 
than treating homes as necessary shelter provided 
publicly and mandated as affordable to all.


Private equity in real estate – The Build to Rent scandal

Build to Rent properties in the UK have increased 
to 20% of all new builds in recent years – and 
27% in London, the thinktank states. Investors 
know that renting out essentials is a guaranteed way to make the most money.

That is, you get regular, passive income on 
resources people automatically need while 
retaining ownership of the ‘asset’ itself. 
Investors can then use the ‘product’ as collateral or eventually sell it.

At the same time, housing is a risk free 
investment for the government to make through 
public ownership, which can be organised on the 
basis of need and affordability.

Another way the current system is far from 
adequate is inherited wealth. Common Wealth notes 
that that in 2023 the majority of first time 
house buyers (57%) received financial assistance 
from their parents. The lottery of birthright 
should surely not prevail over the fact that housing is is a commonality.

Nonetheless, the thinktank further points out 
that between the onset of the financial crash in 
2008 and 2023 the global real estate ‘assets’ 
under the management of “institutional investors” 
increased by around 450% from $385bn to $1.7trn.

<https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/08/08/would-building-15m-homes-bring-down-british-house-prices>Related: 
Would private equity building 1.5m UK homes bring down British house prices?


Rachel Reeves: making the situation even worse

In the UK, overseas investors believe the housing 
market system to be staying. In absolute terms, 
UK real estate was the largest housing market for 
foreign investment in the first quarter of 2024.

Private investors want to maximise their profits 
at every avenue. Common Wealth points out this is 
at odds with providing affordable and social 
housing. The thinktank notes that when asset 
managers Blackstone bought up and renovated homes 
in Stockholm, rents increased by a whopping 43%.

The report further shows that a “structural 
undersupply” of housing leads to year on year rent rises.

Instead of tackling the issue, Reeves seems 
intent on making the situation worse and 
diverting more resources away from public housing 
and towards private investment.
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