Monday morning briefing 2026 01 19

hammondjon
Jan 21
2 min read

Good morning LinkedInners, here we are again, another exciting week ahead…but let’s just catch up on what happened last week.

-> Starting this week in Ireland, where a target of 300,000 homes by 2030 has been set by the Government. This includes 72k social homes and 90k affordable homes. Against a target of 50k completions, 2025 saw just 16,400 starts.

-> On the plus side, @Calrol Talon reports, offsite and other modern methods of construction are being explicitly reported in government commencement data for the first time. Latest stats shows MMC used in 69% of scheme homes in the second half of last year. This is marked with a cautionary note over the U.K. experience of the collapses within this sector.

-> In a move to speed planning consent decisions from this month all new-build social housing projects up to €200m move to a single approval process, with standardised design intended to cut delays and support MMC at scale.

-> In England, the MHCLG reported that new home construction starts in England rose 18% year-on-year in the 12 months to the end of September

-> However, planning departments at two central London councils were disrupted by cyber attacks. @Property Week reports that Westminster and Kennsingto and Chelsea were the victims.

-> The Government also laid out plans for the Northern Powerhouse Rail infrastructure. Timing , and funding beyond the initial planning phase are yet to be confirmed, however it is expected to drive significant economic growth, boost local housing markets and transform connectivity between key cities and commuter towns.

-> The @Rightmove Rental Trends Tracked was published last week and had some mixed messages. Average rents are expected to have some small gains in 2026, with 2% nationwide rise predicted. This follows average falls in 2025 Q4 of 1.1% outside London and 0.7% in London.

Overall rents were up 2.2% compared to 2024, and
the number of rental properties available was up 9% YoY,
but remained a whopping 33% down on a decade ago
Average number of enquiries per property is 10
London has the lowest at 7, while the NW & Scotland average 16 enquiries per property

-> @Placemakr and @Hilton have launched the Apartment Collection, a new lodging category within Hilton's growing collection brand portfolio reports @BTR News. The partnership will build upon Hilton’s collection of 10k apartments in N America, with 3k more short term lets available

-> @Urban Living News reported that @Principal Asset Management has acquired two build-to-rent (BTR) investments in south-west London for more than £100 million. The purchase includes 130 units in Clapham and 66 in Earlsfield.

This weeks image is New Fountainbridge in Edinburgh, managed by @Native Places and with a @Homeviews score of 4.97.