MORNING NEWS: Will 2025 be the year of the bed?

Good morning. The extended festive break comes to a proper close today as workers flood back to their desks. To help you get back up to date with what has been happening in the real estate sector over the past few weeks, here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of industry-relevant headlines from the nationals, all perfectly curated to set you up for the day ahead. The new year looks set to be another big year for student housing development, with London & Regional kicking off plans to build more than 1,400 new student beds in Southwark. The firm has submitted plans to transform Skipton House on London Road, SE1, into a mixed-use scheme comprising some 1,434 student beds and 243 affordable homes. The 250,000 sq ft Skipton House has been vacant since the Department of Health vacated it when its lease expired in September 2022. Staying with the theme of beds, the British Property Federation reckons there is some £20bn of private capital out there that could invest in social housing, if government can get its policies right. In its response to the Future Social Housing Rent Policy consultation, the BPF said government could unlock an additional £20bn of private capital to deliver 240,000 social homes over the next five years by committing to a 10-year rent settlement. It argues that a proposed five-year settlement does not provide the conditions to support the government’s ambition to deliver significantly more social housing as part of its 1.5m new homes target. Annual social housing construction starts currently sit at 43,400, against need for 145,000 new homes a year. Where beds are booming is in the hotels world. Investment in 2024 is expected to be more than double that seen in 2023. New figures from Savills reveal that more than £5.7bn of UK hotels will have been transacted once final figures are complete for 2024. The total is the highest since 2018. Elsewhere, Stanhope has bagged Swedish bank Handelsbanken as the latest tenant at its Woolgate development in the City. The bank is taking around 50,000 sq ft in the building at 25 Basinghall Street, EC2, moving from 3 Thomas More Square, E1. Mikael Sorensen, chief executive at Handelsbanken UK, said: “Consolidating our office space in Woolgate will allow us to continue our UK growth story in a cost-effective way, for many years to come – from a modern, fit-for-purpose and environmentally sustainable home – aligning perfectly with our core values.” And while you may spend some time catching up on all the deals and news from the sector today, don’t forget that if you need to stay one step ahead of the competition this week and know what’s coming up, EG has you covered with a look ahead to what to expect in UK real estate with the EG news agenda. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: Berkeley’s Perrins joins Grosvenor Property UKHandelsbanken signs at Stanhope’s WoolgateLondon & Regional plans 1,400-bed PBSA scheme in SouthwarkURW sells 15% stake in flagship Paris mallUK hotel investment doubles£20bn of private capital waiting to invest in social housingEG’s news agenda: what to look out for this weekAllsop resi auction totals top £600mCOMMENT: Forget flex versus traditional offices – the future is a blendOrchard offloads Manchester retail parkLewis takes Crown chairGlobal Holdings buys Boohoo HQ for £49.5mBrookfield delays sale of CitypointJames Daunt plots next chapter for Barnes & Noble and Waterstones (£)Tulip Siddiq under rising pressure to resign over property scandal (£)Gary Neville hotel makes huge loss after Tom Kerridge closure US homebuilder shares slide on fears of higher rates and Trump tariffs (£)The answer to tech’s clean energy problem? Put data centres in space (£)New Look to speed up store closures as budget fallout spreads (£)Budget gyms aim to bulk up in smaller UK centres (£)Chelsea FC co-owner pays £56m for London penthouse (£)‘There will be a bit of a slump’: London braced for luxury hotel glut (£)Laura Ashley ‘primed for relaunch’ after purchase by Ben Sherman owner (£)