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Description
The Return is a podcast for property investors and developers who want to get UK housing deals done, even in a tough market.
Getting homes built is harder than ever. Planning delays, rising construction costs, funding gaps and shifting market conditions stop most projects before they start.
Learn from investors, developers and policymakers discussing what's happening in the UK housing market right now and how to learn from their experience.
Each episode features a real life case study or topic including: planning reform, policy shifts, funding conditions, deal viability, sales, delivery challenges and measuring impact.
Hosted by Anna Clare Harper, Director at Pinnacle Investments and author of three best-selling books on residential investing. Her mission is to help mobilise capital to drive the delivery of 10,000 more, better homes by 2030.
Join 350,000+ listeners learning how to build, fund and deliver more, better UK housing deals.
145 Episodes
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Send a text I had to be on my best behaviour for this - interviewing my boss. Andy Hulme is CEO of The Hyde Group One of the largest UK Housing Associations With 125,000 homes (Also my employer) He’s also a former Group MD at Lloyds Where he helped launch Help to Buy. No pressure, then. We covered: - What public-private housing partnerships actually are - Why housing partnerships fail - despite the best intentions - The 3 biggest mistakes (and how to avoid them) &nb...
Send us a text Even if the land was free, many property deals don’t stack. Zombie pricing. Rising costs. More regulations. I asked Nicola Haigh, Head of Real Estate & Housing, Lloyds. Who’s served 10,000+ real estate borrowers. How can developers survive and thrive in the 2020s? She shared 5 things bankable developers Lloyds work with do, including: 1. Keep a cash buffer → Don’t borrow the max. 2. Track cash flow weekly → Avoid nasty surprises. 3. Plan multiple exits → Sell some, h...
Send us a text Solving the housing crisis isn’t just about building more. It’s about the right homes, in the right places, for the people who need them most. The sharpest edge of that challenge? Supported housing - for people with learning and physical disabilities, mental health needs and other vulnerabilities. It’s vital - but complex. It demands real care. And let’s be honest: some players are cutting corners. This week on the podcast, we covered what actually works for providers who...
Send us a text I loved recording a no-fluff episode of The Return With Richard Donnell at Zoopla (Source of the best insights in the industry.) The headline? → Stop investing like it’s 2021. → Start investing like it’s 2026. We covered what 2025 changes mean for 2026 investors. Then discussed 2026 ‘must-dos’, including: Re-underwrite your portfolio. Assume “normal” rent growth (2-3%). Stress test higher compliance and running costs. Face the London maths. If you want income, be hone...
Send us a text 99% of real estate investors say the model tells the truth. But in practice, the data is messy. And the herd is loud. 3 weeks ago, I got to interview a real estate finance hero of mine: Colin Lizieri - Professor of Real Estate Finance At the university of Cambridge. And a global authority on how markets really price risk. In 20 minutes, we dug into: → Signal vs noise Why real estate data is so unreliable And quick checks to make sure your assumptions actually stack....
Send us a text Most housing schemes don’t stack in this market. Those that do get three things right. On the latest episode of The Return, Andy Garnett (CEO, Breck Homes) and Dale Parkinson (Lloyds Bank) shared what they’re seeing on schemes that actually work: - Buy smart - not late Secure land before planning (e.g. through options), or buy at a genuine discount when the timing is right (e.g. around budget changes) (For 20–30% margins vs <10% if you pay full “with planning” market p...
Send us a text It’s hard to make housing developments stack in today’s market. Build costs are up Policies are changing Planning is a dragging. So I asked Alex Notay - Chair of the Radix Big Tent Housing Commission and one of the most respected strategic voices in UK housing - what it really takes to deliver 1,000 homes per day. She shared the big lessons on the podcast, including: Treat housing as national infrastructure - not just a market product.Planning + policy + funding must operate as...
Send us a text People say the housing market is broken. Homes England aims to fix it. It touches 1 in 4 new homes. I spoke to ex-CEO Peter Denton CBE. About how developers and housing providers Use Homes England support to build more homes. We covered: - What it is. Who it serves. How it helps. (From grants to Compulsory Purchase powers.) - How to frame your ask for success. (Lead with the market failure you’ll unlock.) - How to avoid common mistakes. (Respect proc...
Send us a text It's hard to scale in real estate Without a big budget, expensive team or endless meetings. I asked Kelly Bream A multi-time founder and ex-COO, Bidwells How she has grown multiple real estate businesses from local to national. She shared the playbook for local to national growth on the podcast, including: - People > platforms first. Hire complements (e.g. brand/marketing), not clones. - Standardise the boring; localise the value. Central co...
Send us a text Anna Clare Harper is joined by Hayley Rees, Managing Director at £50bn+ Pension Insurance Corporation. In Anna’s words: There’s lots of advice for private investors. Almost nothing on how big institutions back UK housing. Yet it’s a major growth area. So I asked Hayley (MD at £50bn+ insurer PIC) what actually works. We covered: How to choose investments: Compare returns to UK government bonds (gilts). Avoid 10 year projects, as there’s a lot of competition for 10 year m...
Send us a text Richard Donnell, Executive Director at Zoopla joined Anna Clare Harper to share what the latest rental market data means for investors, and how to underwrite real estate deals with the right rent growth assumptions. Topics include: Rent growth has slowed - why and what next for UK rentalsUnderwriting rents to earnings, not history or inflationThe most invest-able places (and EPC grades) Renters Rights Bill opportunities and risksWe also covered what strategy Richard would ...
Send us a text Riccardo Ianucci-Dawson, CEO of £50m Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) Alto Software Group, joined Anna Clare Harper for this episode. It’s hard to get real estate deals done in 2025. With caution, fall-throughs and zombie pricing. So some smart investors are buying real estate businesses. Not just assets. @Riccardo Ianucci-Dawson is CEO of Alto A £50m ARR estate agency CRM powering 25,000 agents. We discussed: How smart investors are growing in 2025Top leadership lessons...
Send us a text Martin Wolf CBE is Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times. Described as “the most important economics commentator in the world.” I had such fun recording this. Thank you for sending in your questions. If you’re a real estate investor, policymaker or fellow economics nerd, this episode is for you. We covered: The costs and benefits of land/property taxes. → The right thing to do, but destabilising? How house price increases don't create growth. → They tra...
Send us a text Anna Clare Harper joined Charlie Martin on his podcast, The Responsible Edge. In Anna’s words: There’s a £2.2 trillion UK housing opportunity Unlocked using clever automation and AI But hiding in plain sight: Existing private and social homes That need upgrading quickly. AI can help analyse portfolios To make fast, reliable decisions. So analysing 10,000 homes takes hours, not months. But, TBT - AI has its limits e.g. in construction. I explored this with ...
Send us a text Melanie Leech CBE, British Property Federation CEO joins Anna Clare Harper. In Anna’s words: ‘35% of no new homes is still nothing.’ People love to blame planning for our housing crisis. But it’s only half the story. You also need to: Tackle construction cost inflationManage skills and labour shortagesNavigate new regulations (eg building safety, net zero)Make the numbers work with 35% ‘affordable’ requirementsI loved chatting with Melanie Leech CBE, Chief Executive of the Brit...
Send us a text David Smith, Economics Editor at the Sunday Times, Award-winning journalist and Author with Anna Clare Harper. In Anna’s words: The housing crisis isn’t just about supply. It’s about who owns what – and who pays for it. In this episode, I spoke to David Smith, Economics Editor of the Sunday Times since 1989 – and a role model who first got me (and many others) interested in economics as a teenager. We covered: - Why 68% of property wealth is held by over-55s → crea...
Send us a text Tenants are happier than owners. (and that’s not the only surprising truth about new builds). I chatted Hannah Marsh, a co-founder of HomeViews, the biggest property review platform in the UK - dubbed the TripAdvisor for property - and recently acquired by Rightmove. In this episode of the podcast, she shares what she learned scaling and selling two startups. She also shared the surprising results of data on Build to Rent from Rightmove and HomeViews, and what opportuniti...
Send us a text Monica O'Neill is CEO of ENSO Advisors LLC. She was a Co-Founder at Tristan Capital Partners, and a Managing Director at AEW Europe. She joined Anna Clare Harper for this episode of The Return. Monica has grown two multi-billion dollar real estate platforms and helped shape the US affordable housing system (via Low-Income Housing Tax Credit). Now she’s doubling down on UK residential, especially affordable and supported housing. In this episode, we discuss: - ...
Send us a text In this episode, the podcasting roles were reversed. Erica Sosna interviewed Anna Clare Harper, Host of The Return and Co-Founder of GreenResi. Anna says, 'I was lucky to be invited on The Career Equation, hosted by Erica Sosna - career coach and Good Housekeeping’s in-house career expert. The format is that each guest brings a career challenge they are facing and Erica helps them through it using her methodology. My challenge (at the time of recording - a few month...
Send us a text Andy Rothery, Head of Europe for Real Foundations / Former Head of Deloitte Real Estate and Maya the Robot joined Anna Clare Harper for this episode of The Return. ‘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. → U...
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would like to withdraw my remark that the gentleman concerned may have had a drink. I have no idea if he had. But it's still a hilarious episode
Hilarious..The Raspberry PI guy is clearly pissed!
I've always been interested in property investment but I've never had the time to read anything much about it. I'm extremely glad my friend recommend me to start listening to this series and I hear that John's really good at keeping you interested in listening. My uncle works in this kinda industry so I guess it feels like I'm following in the footsteps of my uncle!
John is always worth listening to, but the sound quality makes this unlistenable. Given the plethora of how-to guides & inexpensive or free recording options, this should be easy to rectify. It should be recorded again if possible. Hopefully these comments will be taken on board for the future. Thanks for trying Anna & keep up the good work.