Unlock the power of single-family homes
with purpose-built technology

The dynamics of the UK rental market are undergoing a profound transformation, marked by two significant trends: an unprecedented growth in institutional investment and the breakdown of the buy-to-let model for private landlords.

This evolution is still in its infancy compared to the US, where large-scale institutional investors represent up to 50% of the market. However, unlike the US, which is dominated by multi-family homes and operators, our private rental supply is much more diverse, with the vast majority in the single-family typology. Knight Frank’s Single Family Housing Report 2024 shows that nearly 50% of privately renting households in the UK live in suburban areas, which equates to 2.65 million households that operate as single-family housing.

This is why we’re incredibly excited to see growing institutional investment in new single-family rental homes, with £1 billion deployed by September 2023 and projections suggesting an investment influx of another £25 billion in the next decade, as we believe it will redefine rental living in the UK and add much-needed supply to the market, more quickly than alternatives.

While most institutional investment has been deployed by buying new single-family homes from housebuilders, there is also an emerging opportunity for institutional investors to retain the private rental supply being cast off by private owners exiting the market. Operators like Bricklane, HomeQuarters and GreenResi are creating innovative platforms to capture this shift and create demand for a new type of management operation.

However, more homes across more locations bring with it greater operational challenges. So how do you standardise leasing, management operations, and customer experience across geographically dispersed portfolios?

It's our conviction that technology stands out as the critical enabler, empowering owners, managers, and even renters to navigate the evolving landscape effectively. The need for a technology-first approach has never been more pressing, as it promises to unlock the full potential of the single-family home sector, streamline operations, and create a resident experience that differentiates the product from the private landlord model.

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Embracing automation for a future-proofed portfolio

The demand for a refined, data-driven management approach intensifies as investors' financing and cost structures change. Traditional systems, burdened by manual processes and fragmented solutions, do not empower real, data-informed decision-making on everything from unit pricing to void management. Residently's platform, tailored for the unique demands of single-family housing, functions as a virtual on-site team, facilitating seamless communication and operations across your dispersed properties.

• Automating routine tasks: We streamline operations, from renter screening to contract generating and issuing, enhancing operational efficiency for owners and managers.
• Unified system for seamless operations: Our platform connects every aspect of the rental journey, eliminating data silos and fostering transparency and collaboration.
• Data-driven decision-making: Access to detailed analytics throughout the resident journey empowers property managers with insights to optimise operations, reduce voids, and drive higher yields

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Fostering community with technology

Building and influencing a community in a single-family housing environment is no less important than in multi-family, but it requires a different, software-led approach. Our clients creatively use Residently to build shared experiences and create a sense of belonging without the need for high-cost, fixed amenities:

• A modern experience to deliver the basics: Our platform simplifies each core interaction from lead through renewal, transforming complex, fragmented tasks into a smooth leasing and management experience that is table stakes for renters. No one will appreciate your amenities and perks if you make the core experience an ordeal!
• Community cards: We give our operating partners a canvas to provide “virtual amenities” that add value to the everyday experience of living in their community. Whether it’s connecting them with local businesses or including fitness memberships as part of the offering, what is unique about single-family homes is that they tend to be “in the community” in a way that UK multi-family sites are often standalone sites. This increases both the responsibility and the opportunity to provide community connections with local businesses and curate those experiences for your residents.
• Community events: Running community events in single-family portfolios is also different to multi-family operations, given the lack of shared space. However, throughout the resident journey, we’ve enabled everything from farmers' markets to garden parties and even merchandised renter-led Facebook Groups. From observing success stories, the key insights for operators are to enhance natural, resident-led interactions and how they use the space

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Strategic in-house management for sustainable growth

The transition towards in-house management emerges as a strategic move for institutional owners, promising enhanced efficiency, profitability, and long-term value. Residently facilitates this shift by offering tools and features tailored to the nuances of leasing and management, including:

• Customisable pre-qualification and viewing automation: Our platform enables owners to manage lead prioritisation and viewing scheduling efficiently, all through cutting-edge automation, allowing each negotiator to control their calendar and service more units across a wider geography.
• AI-powered insights and automated communications: Real-time insights on price and marketing performance streamline the leasing process, enabling a swift adaptation to market changes and reduced void periods.
• Coordinated management across the resident journey: By enabling in-house and external teams to collaborate efficiently to deliver a single user experience, Residently creates complete transparency across your process and creates unified data sets that eliminate the need to stitch together reports in different formats from multiple operators (e.g. 3rd party agents and property managers).

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For single-family homeowners and operators in 2024 and beyond, it should be clear that the selection and use of systems designed to address the specific challenges of this operating model are paramount.

As a purpose-built platform for this segment of the market, Residently represents the modern approach to streamlining operations, enhancing yields, and delivering the type of experience your customers all expect.

We are sincere in our hope that more modern, community-focused systems like ours will support the growth of institutional supply in this market area and enable a more efficient, equitable, and connected renting experience in the UK.

Ed Tinsley, General Manager of Residently

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