Monopoly dynamics and the rise of UK single-family rental

Abstract

This article offers an early account of the emergent UK single family rental market, which it argues represents a potential locus for monopoly dynamics within the UK rental sector. Conceptually, this article positions single family rental (SFR) within the rise of the ‘beds sector’ and within Brett Christophers’ asset manager society. This article further engages with total life landlordism, which theorises the asset manager practice of mopping up opportunities across the beds sector that progresses towards the cradle-to-grave entrapment of households in a corporate rental system, beholden to asset management efforts to maximise asset disposal considerations. Stakeholder interview analysis highlights: investor/housebuilders synergies; crossover of institutional investors from build to rent (multifamily), another beds subsector; and common ground with US SFR despite otherwise divergent transatlantic SFR genealogies and timelines. Focusing on monopoly intermediation, as the primary logic of total life landlordism, this article highlights early signs of competition dynamics at play within and through this new SFR market, including monopoly power and class monopoly rents. It underscores monopoly dynamics as an important feature of the asset manager society.