Sentiment towards property largely improved in October, with the big names all seeing share price gains as UK inflation data came in slightly below expectations. However, residential REIT Grainger’s shares continue to fall as the Renters’ Reform Bill was passed into law during the month. All eyes now turn to the budget at the end of the month.
Best performing funds in price terms
| (%) | |
| Big Yellow Group | 14.4 |
| Town Centre Securities | 9.9 |
| British Land | 9.0 |
| Safestore | 8.7 |
| Schroder REIT | 8.3 |
| Land Securities | 6.8 |
| SEGRO | 6.4 |
| Workspace Group | 5.4 |
| Hammerson | 5.0 |
| LondonMetric Property | 4.6 |
Big Yellow Group’s (BYG) share price jumped on news of a possible bid from Blackstone; however the private equity group said it would assess the impact of the budget before making a decision on a bid for the self-storage giant. Safestore’s (SAFE) share price also rose off the back of the interest in its stablemate. The sector’s bellwether – British Land (BLND) – notched higher on a positive trading update and upgraded earnings forecast. LondonMetric’s (LMP) acquisition of a 9.5% stake in Schroder REIT (SREI) sent the M&A rumour mill into overdrive and the share price of both up. It is not the usual MO of the highly acquisitive LMP, though, so we’ll have to wait and see what the strategy is there.
Worst performing funds in price terms
| (%) | |
| Unite Group | (21.1) |
| Macau Property Opportunities | (19.2) |
| Empiric Student Property | (15.9) |
| Regional REIT | (10.3) |
| Ceiba Investments | (5.5) |
| AEW UK REIT | (4.6) |
| Value & Indexed Property | (3.7) |
| Harworth Group | (3.5) |
| Social Housing REIT | (3.4) |
| Grainger | (3.4) |
Falling Chinese student numbers, amid heightened geopolitical tension, hit occupancy figures at Empiric Student Property (ESP) and resulted in the share price of both ESP and Unite Group (UTG) crashing. The latter has agreed a deal to acquire the former, but with concerns mounting over future demand for student digs, UTG’s shares have fallen 33.7% since the offer period commenced in June, and consequently the value of the offer has also fallen. Regional REIT (RGL) again made the list of worst monthly share price performers and is now down 7.8% over 2025. There are a number of property companies with a worse share price performance this year, one being Grainger (GRI – one of the largest residential landlords in the UK, which recently converted to a REIT), which is down 16.7%. The Renters’ Reform Bill seems to have knocked the sector and unjustifiably dragged down GRI, whose quality portfolio is largely unaffected. Its shares are looking very good value at a 37.5% discount to EPRA net tangible assets (NTA).
Valuation moves
| Company | Sector | NAV move (%) | Period | Comments |
| AEW UK REIT | Diversified | 0.2 | Quarter to 30 Sept 25 | 0.1% like-for-like portfolio valuation increase for the quarter to £216.1m |
| PRS REIT | Residential | 7.4 | Full year to 30 June 25 | Portfolio valued at £1.2bn, portfolio ERV up 11% |
| Target Healthcare REIT | Healthcare | 3.7 | Full year to 30 June 25 | Portfolio value increased by 2.4% to £929.9m |
| Alternative Income REIT | Diversified | 3.4 | Full year to 30 June 25 | Like-for-like portfolio valuation uplift of 2.1% to £107.4m |
| Town Centre Securities | Diversified | (4.0) | Full year to 30 June 25 | Like for like portfolio valuation down 2.4% to £254.1m |
Very few valuation updates to give us a picture of how values across the property sector are moving, with just AEW UK REIT (AEWU) reporting its portfolio value was flat in the third quarter of the year. It did reveal, however, a jump in earnings with the company now almost fully invested. The last of the annual results to come through for the 12 months to the end of June in the main showed the improving market conditions over that period. PRS REIT’s (PRSR) performance casts new light on the deal that will see it taken private by Waypoint at an almost 20% discount to NAV, which shareholders will vote on at the end of November.
