The Return: Property & Investment Podcast

Send us a text‘AI will replace us.’No.AI will scale us.AI will free us.AI will sharpen us.To become a high-performing, high-growth real estate business, you embrace it all.→ Automate what slows you down - like messy bank reconciliations → Focus your team on value-add work - like relationship-building. → Use robots to double your AUM - without hiring.In the US, building custom real estate business robots is becoming the norm. In the UK, 99% don’t do it.Find out how to double your Assets Under Management without hiring.From Maya the Robot.And Andy Rothery, Head of Europe for Real Foundations / Former Head of Deloitte Real Estate. P.S. Yes, we really had a robot on the pod. And yes, she gave the best answer to the £100k/£1m/£1bn question. Maya the Robot created by https://www.sesame.com/Guest website: http://www.realfoundations.net/Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-rothery-a8209818/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textWhat people think you should do: Take a huge mortgage.Own a home ASAP.Consider your home to be your main ‘investment’.Spend the bulk of your money on your home.Or, you could:Enjoy living in a much nicer place than you could afford to buy.Waste less time on property maintenance.Enjoy the flexibility, and move when you want to (not after 3 x sale fall throughs).Make informed investment decisions suited to your age and stage of life.Spending all your money on a home doesn’t necessarily give you financial freedom.Being strategic about your property (and other) investments will. I spoke to Helen Gordon, CEO of Grainger PLC, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord about → The benefits of renting over buying for many of their customers→ Misalignment of incentives in rental property→ How to enjoy a career in real estate and investmentGuest website: https://corporate.graingerplc.co.uk/ Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textI spoke with Aubrey Adams OBE, Chair of Tritax Big Box REIT (FTSE 250), Former Chair of L&Q (105,000 homes) and Former CEO of Savills about building trust and how housing gets funded.We covered:→ How to fund and scale Housing Associations (Including cash flow, bonds, grant etc)→ How real estate Boards can build trust→ Where public housing providers should take riskGuest website: https://www.tritaxbigbox.co.uk/ Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textI spoke to Guy Horne, CEO of HSPG, a real estate company that acquires, manages and develops residential property, in particular Affordable housing.We covered:What are the key differences between affordable, Affordable, social, and supported housing, in words my mum can understand?What are the hottest strategies for Living Sector investors seeking to solve the homelessness crisis, including place-based portfolios?What impact is grant funding having on what investment strategies work?What Guy’s most recommended resource is.Guest website: http://www.hspg.co.uk Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-horne-b6646722/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textI chatted with Gus Wiseman, Global Head of Investor Relations for the UK Government’s Office for Investment about: 🌍 What international capital thinks about UK housing vs. Europe and the US📈 How UK real estate platforms can position themselves to secure investment from global pension funds📢Why self-deprecation is doing UK Plc no favours - and what we can do about it.Guest website: http://great.gov.uk Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guswiseman/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textUK vs Europe: Where’s the Smart Money Going in Living Sector Investment?With John German, Managing Director Alternative Investments at Invesco Real EstateI chatted to John German, Managing Director Alternative Investments at Invesco Real Estate about the differences between UK and European Living Sector Investment, with a special focus on Affordable Housing. This episode is brilliant for anybody new to this sector as John is an expert at navigating this sometimes complex sector. We covered:Who’s who and what’s what in Living Sector investmentWhat different investors look for: Income vs Total Return (including capital growth)The differences between UK living sectors and other living sectors internationally in terms of scale, maturity and return expectationsThe significance of the UK’s regulatory framework for affordable housing, meaning Affordable housing needs to be provided by Registered ProvidersWhat premium international investors need to make on Living Sector investments, to justify currency risk.Guest website: https://www.invesco.com/us/en/strategies/alternatives/real-estate.html Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-german-2437573b/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textI chatted to Phil Clark, NED at Pinnacle Group (70,000 UK homes), Thriving Investments, part of Places for People, Chair of Pinnacle Investments (a partner of ours), Executive Chair at Wellcome Trust’s Genome Campus, and Investment Committee NED at UCL and PIC.We talked about the match between institutions and social/affordable housing:📈 Scale – Housing Associations are some of the UK’s largest landlords, with an average of 2,801 homes each (and many far bigger).💷 Income growth – Typically offering some protection against inflation.🏠 Attractive yields – Standing stock can generate 4-5% returns.🌍 Social impact – Many institutions actively seek investments that deliver real-world benefits, and housing is a tangible way to meet urgent needs.Phil explained what role institutions can play in solving the crisis of affordable (and Affordable) housing, investing through:💰 Debt – Lending to Housing Associations, in the same way they would allocate capital to other bond investments.🏗️ Equity – Investing in the end product.Guest website: https://wellcome.org/ Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-clark-8761ba26/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textI chatted to Ann-Marie Atkins, a Managing Partner and award-winning Financial Planner at Evelyn Partners, about what you need to know about investing. Disclaimer and spoiler alert - there’s no actual investment tips or investment advice, the game-changing advice is to consider two equally exciting themes: TAX and INFLATION. Some snippets from Ann-Marie:Want to double your money in the next 10 years?? You can, if you invest at 7.2% interest (a version of this is known elsewhere as the Rule of 72)If you do one thing, think about tax first because it will have the greatest impact on your net returns - for example ISAs, SIPPs, Lifetime ISAs. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time before the end of the tax year. How much you should be contributing to your pension each year.I shared some of my thoughts including:Something I’ve seen as I’m spending more time in the US is that there’s a much greater acceptance of mistakes. Business founders are celebrated for trying as well as for succeeding; there’s less shame around learning by doing. Here in the UK, speaking for myself, I was brought up to be scared of making mistakes with money - and the cost of that fear is huge - both for individuals and for our economy!Booking a monthly finance date with myself is something I find really helpful, and having a process and plan to follow.Some comments from listeners - for example, one very successful listener shared: “I’m just crap at this stuff. I put a reminder in my calendar to sort out my ISA or read up on how to allocate it, and then I keep postponing the calendar invite.” and we shared some nuggets about how to make this easier…Guest website: https://www.evelyn.com/Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annmariebanks/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textI chatted to Rob Beiley, a Partner at law firm Trowers & Hamlins with over 20 years of experience in the affordable housing sector.Rob advises housing associations, local authorities, developers and institutional investors on topics including corporate governance, housing finance, development and structuring.He’s also a board member of the Housing & Finance Institute, Chair of the British Property Federation's Affordable Housing group and a contributor to Inside Housing and the BBC on topics like council-led housing initiatives and the rise of local authority housing companies.We covered:What are the different types of Social Housing and who is involved in delivering itA potted history of Social Housing, including large-scale stock transfers and the growth of the Housing Association sector under the Conservatives and New Labour administrations in the 1990s and the early 2000sHow investment in Social Housing has evolved over the years, and what kind of returns investors can expect Guest website: https://www.trowers.com/ Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-beiley-8a906944/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/

Send us a textI chatted to the brilliant Alex Notay, who succeeded Dame Kate Barker as Chair of the Radix Big Tent Housing Commission and was previously Placemaking and Investment Director at Thriving Investments (formerly PfP Capital). There, she facilitated a £390m joint venture with the Housing Growth Partnership and the acquisition of the award-winning sustainable developer Igloo Regeneration, where she also served as a board member.Alex is one of the most knowledgeable, practical people I know in housing, so it was a great joy to record this - we talked: The Reality of Housing Targets - what’s needed to achieve them? Why it makes sense to treat housing as infrastructureThe challenge of communicating complicated ideas simplyThe significance of language around housing… Our self-built barrier to entry to the industry, where we talk about #housing when referring to social housing, #residential for private investment, #living for institutional investment, #property for individuals, #realestate for the American market #builtenvironment in relation to planning and development, and so on.Read the Radix Paper here: https://radixuk.org/papers/beyond-the-permacrisis-delivering-1000-homes-per-day/Guest website: https://radixuk.org/ Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandranotayparr/Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaclareharper/Host website: https://www.greenresi.com/