Savills |

spring / summer 2017 |

aspects of land

Rental housing

is an important

part of an estate’s

income and

needs to meet the

market’s needs

SHUTTERSTOCK

ast year, residential properties on rural estates

accounted for more than 43 per cent of estate

incomes.That is a healthy increase of more

than 15 per cent on the previous 12 months, according

to Savills Estate Benchmarking Survey.

That does not mean that estate managers can just

sit back and watch the profits roll in though. New

government policies, coupled with a changing demand

for what rental housing should offer, means that

estates will need to take a good look at their

residential portfolios if they want to maximise their

returns from them in the future. Without making

changes, estate owners could find that their incomes

will swiftly diminish.

“Many estates are grappling with the way in which

their residential property fits with their longer term

plans,” says David Wasserberg, Savills Economist. “While

many of them are run very professionally, many estates are

not proactively managing their residential stock in a way

that optimises income.”

For the majority of estates with housing stock, the

biggest challenge is around new Minimum Energy

Efficiency Standards (MEES) that have been introduced

by the government to bring the energy efficiency levels of

all residential let property up to scratch.

The rules mean that properties with new tenancies

will need to gain an Energy Performance Certificate

(EPC) rating of E or above by 1 April 2018. Existing

HOUSE AND HOME

With changing lifestyles and changing regulations, rural housing doesn’t just need

to be energy efficient, it needs to meet the needs of today’s rental market too

HOUSING