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Why is it so difficult for people to buy houses when everywhere you look there is a building site?<\/p>\n
It turns out that a large proportion of new build properties are sold before they even reach the market, but to whom?<\/p>\n
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This article explores an issue that is propelling the housing crisis in the UK.\u00a0 It turns out that Britain’s housing stock is being bought not by the people who will live in it, but by those who profit from the fact that others cannot afford to.<\/p>\n
The traditional picture is that, mortgage offer and carefully-hoarded\/scrimped\/saved deposit at the ready, the Man on the Clapham Omnibus visits a website, spots properties he can afford and makes an appointment with the Housing Developer\u2019s Agent or an Estate Agent to view.<\/p>\n
It is actually a lot more complicated.\u00a0 Today, our buyer has to rummage about in what\u2019s left after institutional investors, overseas investors, local councils, and housing associations have taken their pick.<\/p>\n
For example, one in five new buy-to-let companies registered in 2025 has at least one foreign shareholder \u2014 up from 13% in 2016.\u00a0 Our domestic rental sector is obviously hugely profitable, explaining why prices remain out of reach of those who would like to own.<\/p>\n
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Institutional Investors and Build-to-Rent<\/strong><\/p>\n These have provided the most significant shift in the market for new-build properties in the last ten years.\u00a0 This is especially true of the Build-to-Rent sector as institutional investors such as pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and property investment companies are buying entire blocks or estates in bulk.<\/p>\n Statistics for 2024 show that:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Overseas Buyers<\/strong><\/p>\n Between 2015 and 2025 there has been a 92% increase in the number of property titles held\u00a0 across England and Wales by overseas companies, from 47,787 in 2015 to 91,791.<\/p>\n It is estimated total value of that stock now exceeds \u00a3125 billion.<\/p>\n London has always been popular with foreign nationals but the interest in the regions is interesting.\u00a0 With the return of Hong Kong to China, the relocation of Hong Kong nationals accounts for 25,972 properties, 13% of all foreign-owned property,<\/em><\/p>\n Singaporeans are second in this London tally, with 15,635 properties.<\/p>\n In the first quarter of 2025, Knight Frank reported that international buyers accounted for 45% of all high-value residential property purchases across the UK.<\/p>\n International investment in the student housing sector alone topped \u00a34 billion in 2024. Purpose-built student accommodation in university cities such as Nottingham, Leeds, and Coventry has become especially attractive, with its reliable occupancy rates and predictable rental income.<\/p>\n Again, international buyers are looking outside London.. Birmingham has seen a 9.3% rise in foreign investor enquiries, driven partly by HS2 infrastructure investment. Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow are also drawing capital from Asia and the Gulf.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Local Councils: Buyers Out of Desperation<\/strong><\/p>\n Councils across England have been buying properties, including new builds, at a major scale.<\/p>\n Desperately short of housing after so many properties were sold under the Right to Buy scheme, by March 2025, 169,050 children were living in temporary accommodation in England, and council spending on temporary accommodation rose 25% in a single year to \u00a32.8 billion. In 2024-25, only 2,260 council homes were built in England, while over 8,600 were sold off \u2014 a ratio that experts at the Common Wealth think tank describe as an “emergency.”<\/p>\n Between 2020 and 2025, 53 councils have spent \u00a32.12 billion purchasing 8,590 properties, an average of around \u00a340 million per council.<\/p>\n More than half of those properties were former council homes previously sold off and now being repurchased at far higher prices: in one documented case, a Swindon council home sold for \u00a3108,500 in 2020 was bought back for \u00a3240,000 in 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Housing Associations<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2024-5, housing associations (registered social landlords such as Clarion, L&Q and Peabody) accounted for 25% of all new build completions in England, compared to just 4% for local authorities.<\/p>\n Under Section 106, Housing Associations acquire affordable and social rent properties directly from private developers as part of the planning obligations attached to large new developments.<\/p>\n\n