Transactions recover but context matters
Residential property transactions reached 101,030 on a seasonally adjusted basis in April 2026, according to HMRC’s latest data, 53% higher than April 2025. That headline figure requires context. April 2025 saw a sharp drop in completions following the reduction in SDLT thresholds from 1 April 2025, with buyers having pulled forward transactions into March 2025 to beat the deadline. The year-on-year comparison is therefore flattering. Month on month, transactions fell 3% from March 2026’s 103,910, a more reliable indicator of underlying market conditions. On that basis the market is holding broadly steady rather than accelerating. Non-residential transactions told a similar story, with seasonally adjusted volumes of 9,960 in April, 6% lower than March and marginally higher year on year.
US capital retreats as overseas investment shifts
Total investment in UK commercial real estate reached £57bn in 2025, marginally higher than 2024, according to Real Estate:UK and CoStar. Overseas inflows rose 33% year on year to £27.2bn, the fourth strongest year on record, although the figures were skewed by Welltower’s £6bn-plus acquisition of care home portfolios.
US buyers accounted for 73% of the top ten investing countries by value. Q1 2026 saw relative retrenchment, with overseas capital falling to £3.6bn as US inflows eased and market conditions deteriorated following escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Logistics demand holds firm
Sunrise Real Estate has fully leased its 673,000 sq ft logistics asset in Rugby to ID Logistics UK, which will operate the site as an e-commerce fulfilment centre. The asset, upgraded to EPC A and BREEAM Very Good, underlines continued demand for well-located, sustainable prime logistics space in the Golden Triangle.
Cambridge BTR forward fund
Grainger has forward funded a 425-home build-to-rent scheme at Cambridge North, developed by Blocwork LLP. The scheme will transform disused railway land into a zero-carbon neighbourhood incorporating heat pumps, photovoltaic panels and fabric-first design.
Retrofit finance scales up
The National Wealth Fund and Lloyds Banking Group have committed up to £500m to support retrofit and decarbonisation across UK university estates. Lloyds will provide lending backed by £350m of NWF guarantees, supporting upgrades across up to 300 buildings. The programme is expected to support up to 4,000 jobs.
Old Oak seeks development partner
The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation has launched a procurement process for a joint venture partner to deliver its Old Oak regeneration scheme: 31 hectares, approximately 8,000 homes and up to 200,000 sqm of commercial space in west London.
Powered Land: how the data centre boom is reshaping UK real estate
The data centre boom is accelerating, and with it a new hierarchy of real estate is emerging. In this edition of The Long View, we examine some of the key players that have moved into the digital infrastructure space, the opportunities they are pursuing, the challenges they face, and what this tells us about the future of UK real estate.
The data centre boom is well underway. As of June 2025, the grid connection queue stood at 96GW at transmission alone, with 142 data centre projects accounting for approximately 52GW of that total. That figure equates to roughly the current peak electricity demand of Great Britain. Planning applications have surged alongside the broader pipeline. Recent moves by Kao and Tritax signal serious institutional conviction, with Tritax committing £365 million to its Manor Farm development near Heathrow, and Kao Data acquiring a former industrial site in Park Royal, West London. The data centres clustered around Slough consume so much water for server cooling that Thames Water might reasonably be hoping the sector cools down a bit.
Data centres are the heartbeat of the digital economy. In simple terms, a data centre is a physical space that houses servers, the hardware that stores data, sends emails and hosts software. They are essential infrastructure for the modern economy. And as AI usage continues to accelerate, with global demand for data centres expected to rise between 19 and 22% annually from 2023 to 2030, the question of where to put the servers becomes an increasingly vital one for the UK’s digital future.
Building a data centre requires five structural components. First, floor space, wide and sturdy enough to hold the load. Servers are heavy: some racks on the market are engineered to hold up to nearly a tonne, and a large data centre may house hundreds or even thousands of them. Second, proximity to subsea cables, the subterranean enablers of global data transmission that carry information across ocean floors, connecting London to New York and beyond. Proximity to those cables determines latency, the speed at which data travels between points. In financial markets, every millisecond counts. Elsewhere the tolerance is slightly higher, but speed still matters. Third, power, and lots of it. Fourth, water, to feed the cooling systems that prevent servers from overheating. Fifth, resilience: back-up power systems, physical security and protection against flood risk, ensuring the facility keeps operating if any single system fails.
It explains why Slough has become so central. Map those five requirements onto a single location and Slough sits squarely at the intersection. Ample industrial land to house the servers. Proximity to the subsea cables that run alongside the M4 corridor from Cornwall to London. Sufficient access to national grid transmission infrastructure. Connected to Thames Water. And close enough to the financial and technology cluster that demands the lowest possible latency. It is not an accident that Slough has become Europe’s largest data centre hub.
It is also easy to see why asset managers of logistics and industrial space are making the move. Tritax Big Box, one of the UK’s most established logistics REITs, has identified the yield differential as compelling: its Manor Farm development targets a 9.3% yield on cost, compared with the 6-8% range typical of its logistics development pipeline. Existing sites in viable locations can be repurposed and leased to hyperscaler and co-location operators. Given the long wait times for grid connections and planning permission on new sites, asset managers who already control land in suitable locations are sitting on a significant and increasingly scarce asset.
There are, however, challenges. The demand connections queue grew by 460% in six months at transmission level alone, a rate the government’s own consultation described as driven by speculative activity and “far beyond market forecasts.” Planning timelines remain extended, with applications subject to objections on grounds of noise, water consumption, visual impact and carbon emissions. Tritax’s experience with Manor Farm illustrates the point: a planning decision originally expected in H2 2025 has now been delayed to June 2026, pushing practical completion back by the best part of two years. For developers working to tight financing timelines, that kind of slippage carries real cost.
These challenges can be overcome. Rather than applying for a new grid connection, a process that can take a decade or more, some developers have chosen to acquire or joint venture with businesses that already hold connection agreements. Tritax’s solution at Manor Farm was precisely this: a joint venture with a leading European renewable energy generator whose existing grid connection right could be deployed for the new facility, providing access to two independent transmission substations and contracted power delivery in H2 2027. As Tritax noted in its announcement, this approach unlocked power faster than applying directly to the grid, where securing a connection could have taken more than ten years. Other approaches include private wire arrangements, on-site power generation and power purchase agreements with renewable energy providers.
The government has also signalled its intent to accelerate delivery. Data centres were designated as Critical National Infrastructure in September 2024, and the introduction of AI Growth Zones is intended to prioritise grid connections and streamline planning for facilities in designated locations. In its March 2026 consultation, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero described grid connection wait times as “the biggest blocker” for establishing AI-capable data centres, and set out proposals to use new powers under the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 to expedite connections for strategically important projects. The reforms represent a meaningful shift in policy direction. Whether they will be sufficient, and fast enough, to match the pace of demand is a question the market is still waiting to answer. The opportunity is significant. The demand for digital infrastructure is structural, not cyclical, and the UK’s connectivity advantages, its position on transatlantic cable routes and its established cluster markets, give it a genuine claim to European leadership in data centre development.
But the scale of that opportunity also raises harder questions. Water consumption at the levels implied by continued expansion will place increasing pressure on already strained utilities. Power demand from data centres, if the pipeline materialises, could approach the current peak electricity demand of the entire country. The energy transition and the data centre boom are on a collision course, and the question of how the UK generates enough clean power to serve both ambitions simultaneously remains unresolved.
Leasehold reforms face legal challenge risk
Campaign group Justice for Property Rights has warned the government it faces potential legal action and compensation claims running into billions over proposed leasehold reforms. The group has criticised the proposed retrospective cap on ground rents as “state-backed expropriation” and confirmed it is working with a major law firm on possible challenges. The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny, with the final bill expected in autumn 2026.
Enfield withdraws from new towns programme
Enfield Council has formally withdrawn from the government’s New Towns programme following a change of administration after May’s local elections. New council leader Alessandro Georgiou confirmed in a letter to housing minister Matthew Pennycook that the council will no longer support development at Crews Hill, Vicarage Farm or across Green Belt land in the borough. It is an early signal that the political conditions for delivery are more contested than the programme’s ambitions imply.
The Early Viewer provides news, analysis and commentary for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, financial or legal advice and does not recommend the buying, selling or holding of any security or investment. Analysis reflects the author’s views at the time of publication and is not tailored to any reader’s individual circumstances. Readers should seek independent professional advice before making investment decisions.