MORNING NEWS: BPF urges next government to set BTR target

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the national papers. As polling day draws closer, the British Property Federation has published a residential manifesto, calling on the next government to unlock private capital to address the undersupply of affordable homes and set a roadmap to deliver 30,000 build-to-rent homes per year. The industry body is also urging the government to remove barriers to delivering student accommodation and older people’s housing. It is estimated that some £10bn of institutional capital is needed for housing associations to address the affordable housing shortfall. The BPF was also among the real estate organisations praising some “ambitious” housing targets set out in the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto, the first published ahead of the general election. The party, led by Sir Ed Davey, pledged to increase building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK, including 150,000 social homes, through 10 new garden cities and community-led development of cities and towns. Real estate investors Gamuda Berhad and Castleforge Partners have secured planning consent for a major redevelopment of Deutsche Bank’s former UK HQ at 75 London Wall, formerly known as Winchester House, EC2. The City of London has given full approval for an “ESG-inspired redevelopment”. The plans, developed by London-based architect Orms, will increase the building’s capacity by 40% to 688,000 sq ft.  Nuveen Real Estate is seeking to exit its 25% stake in the £1bn St James Quarter retail and leisure complex in Edinburgh. Savills has been appointed to sell the slice of the scheme, which opened in 2021. Dutch pension fund APG owns the remainder. The agent has also been instructed along with Eastdil Secured to sell the W Edinburgh hotel at the scheme. And in the national papers, the Conservative Party is set to unveil a package of support (£) to help people get onto the housing ladder, including a return to the Help to Buy model, as well as tax breaks for landlords (£). The prospective Labour government’s ability to break Britain’s planning deadlock (£) is also assessed. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:BPF calls for government action in residential manifestoHenry Boot sells Oxfordshire resi site to MulberryHow three London councils have drawn up one visionHSBC signs for 55,000 sq ft at Scotland’s Maxim ParkWhat makes an inclusive city?Industrious takes over WeWork’s New York HQLiverpool Council gets back powers as intervention endsLib Dems set ‘ambitious’ housing targets in election manifestoSeven Liverpool investment zone projects get fundingCrown Estate’s director of capital projects departsBattersea developer names new chief executiveNew London office starts fall from record highManchester’s King’s House set for £13m office conversionNational deals round-upCanada Life agrees £20m care home dealNuveen looks to sell chunk of £1bn Edinburgh St James QuarterGreggs bakes in growth with SmartParc SEGRO Derby dealCastleforge and Gamuda gain consent for 75 London Wall revampChancerygate and Bridges get thumbs up for £36m logistics hubAlbion Land files plans for next Catalyst Bicester phaseCould a Labour government break Britain’s planning deadlock? (£)Labour sparks concern over potential capital gains tax increase (£)Right to Buy scheme must be scrapped to ease UK social housing crisis, says JLL (£)Tories put Help to Buy revival and £13bn tax cuts on table (£)Rishi Sunak offers tax breaks to landlords in Tory manifesto (£)