Marek Handzel

2 weeks ago | irei.com | Marek Handzel

In late March, Rachel Reeves, the UK finance minister, announced the injection of an extra £2 billion (€2.4 billion) in grant funding for the development of affordable housing. Reeves said the increased funding would result in the creation of around 18,000 new affordable homes. Shortly after the announcement was made, Simon Century, head of capital investing at L&G, welcomed the news, saying the additional funding would help avoid “a cliff edge”.

2 weeks ago | irei.com | Marek Handzel

Confidence has grown throughout the entire real estate supply chain over prospects for the UK market, according to a survey by the United Kingdom’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF). The organisation, which gathered opinions for the survey from 10,874 attendees at the 2025 UKREiiF conference in Leeds between 20 and 25 May, has found some 70 percent of real estate professionals are positive about the year ahead, up from 52 percent at the same time in 2024.

2 weeks ago | irei.com | Marek Handzel

Some 5.9 million square feet (550,000 square metres) of UK office stock was sold between 2022 and 2024 for £3.44 billion (€4.1 billion), with the intention of converting it to a range of alternative use types, says CBRE. The bulk of purchases for repurposing happened in London, with 3.3 million square feet (307,000 square metres) of stock sold for £2.5 billion (€3 billion) between 2022 and 2024 for conversion into life sciences, hotels, student accommodation and other residential assets.

2 weeks ago | irei.com | Marek Handzel

Investment in European purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) rose from 1.9 percent of total European investment activity in 2019 to 5.3 percent at the end of 2024. Hines says this means PBSA become the fastest-growing real estate sector during this period and confirms PBSA’s transition from an emerging, niche sector to a mainstream, firmly established one in the eyes of investors worldwide.

3 weeks ago | irei.com | Marek Handzel

Investors, asset managers, and designers are increasingly recognising the diversity of new data centre occupiers’ needs, and are adapting their proposals accordingly. This change will only increase as the market matures, writes Louis Fantis – Director at Chetwoods Architects. One sign of this maturity is a new approach to data centre design.