UK Living Sector Investment: Institutional Capital, PRS & BTR in 2026

After a period of selective caution, institutional capital is finding its way back into the UK living sector - but not evenly, and not without conditions. Cameron Smith, Co-Founder and Principal of Mayfair Private Office, has completed nearly £500 million in living sector transactions over the last 24 months. He joins James McGregor, P10 Capital Director, to break down the shift from BTR to light-touch PRS, where liquidity is actually sitting in the market today, and why scale is becoming the dominant factor for overseas capital deploying into UK residential.

A quick note before diving in: this conversation was recorded earlier in 2026 against a backdrop of global macro uncertainty and evolving market conditions. Some near-term sentiment may have shifted since recording, but the structural themes Cameron covers - institutional appetite, the PRS/BTR transition, overseas capital flows and UK living sector fundamentals - remain highly relevant and are playing out in the market today.

Transcript

Introduction

James McGregor Cameron, great to have you today. I'm James McGregor, Director of P10 Financial Group, heading up the capital debt advisory team. Cameron, why don't you introduce yourself?

Cameron Smith I'm Cameron Smith. I run a business called Mayfair Private Office — we set it up about eight years ago. We have two business lines. Private client advisory, which is high-end buying agency and estate agency acting for ultra-high net worths investing and owning in London and across the UK. And then residential investment and capital markets, which I head up — anything in the living space, but we specialise in PRS and BTR. In the last 24 months we've sold the best part of 1,500 units — about £500 million worth of transactions.

PRS vs BTR — The Market Transition

Cameron Smith The difference between PRS and BTR, and where we're seeing a transition — PRS is smaller, light-touch, more traditional rental stock. BTR was large, heavily amenitised blocks. I think we're seeing a transition because where there's a squeeze, tenants don't necessarily want to pay for things they're not using. They'd much rather be in better locations than overpay for amenities they don't use. So there is a transition between institutions moving towards light-touch PRS stock.

"Tenants don't necessarily want to pay for things they're not using. They'd much rather be in better locations."

Where Liquidity Is Sitting Right Now

Cameron Smith Things haven't stopped — investors are being much more selective. We see liquidity in four or five places. It's much harder to sell reversionary income at the moment — rents aren't necessarily moving at the same rate, and you're being compared to other sectors where yields are much higher. But people want the lUK living sector exposure.

We're seeing liquidity in unbroken blocks from housebuilders in better locations. Typically these blocks wouldn't have been available because they'd be selling on the open market — but you can now acquire them. If you can get a 5% net yield, the stock will still trade if it's operational. Single family housing is of significant interest to major institutions. And then finally — and this is where we think things will go — when you get to significant scale, there is massive interest. At that scale, the quality of the assets becomes less important. It's about the platform.

"When you get to significant scale, the quality of assets becomes less important. It's about the platform."

The European and American funds coming in are used to deploying at significant scale — they need to cut significant checks to make these things work.

What Makes Mayfair Private Office Different

Cameron Smith Our value piece is that we are a small team, more aligned to the outcome than traditional agents. If we don't do a deal, we don't make money. We will work 24 hours a day to get deals done. We can sit on legal calls, get involved in technical due diligence, and we understand real estate from start to finish. Sometimes our clients are a bit surprised that we can sit there and give advice on what we think should be done — rather than just send an email and an invoice. If the right thing is to not sell, we will tell them.

We've been doing this 15 years. I was at CBRE for the best part of seven years. And American private equity like working with people like us — because the American model is very broker-driven.

Global Capital and the UK as a Safe Haven

Cameron Smith No one likes uncertainty — what's going on in the Middle East is not nice. But I do think there's an element that it can remind people of what the UK is about — being a safe haven. We were already seeing US and Middle Eastern money come in, and I think that will probably compound now. My prediction is there will be opportunity, though the summer might be longer because people will wait and see what's happening.

But the supply and demand fundamentals of the UK across the living sector are some of the best in the world. That's why these institutions and funds are here. Great schools, great universities, great infrastructure, some of the best restaurants in the world, the safest legal system in the world, the best regulation. And the population growth and construction constraints of the last three years are only driving the supply demand fundamentals further.

"The supply and demand fundamentals of the UK across the living sector are some of the best in the world. That's why these institutions are here."

Outlook

Cameron Smith The rental sector — we're a much more transient generation. The UK living sector is only going to grow. It's going to become more institutionally acceptable and the quality of homes being delivered is improving further. It's really interesting money — long-term institutional pension fund money, global money — that believes in the fundamentals of the UK and the living sector and wants to be here for ten plus years. And that money coming in only benefits everything underneath it.

We're always open to conversations. We speak to some of your clients. We're happy to speak to banks, lenders, to give the right advice. We've done the best part of £500 million in transactions in the last 24 months, well over £3 billion in our career. If we can help, we'd love to have a conversation.

James McGregor Brilliant. Thank you, Cameron.

Also in this series: If you found this conversation useful, our previous episode covers the UK office market in depth - including where commercial property yield compression is happening, how commercial property finance is evolving and what the return of high street bank lending means for investors. Ali Rana, Head of National Capital Markets at Carter Jonas, breaks it all down with James.

Read: Is Capital Returning to the UK Office Market? — Ali Rana, Carter Jonas →