The Property118 Housing Research Panel

Why better housing supply data matters now more than ever

Housing policy debates often proceed without reliable, real-time insight into landlord decision-making. Government statistics lag behind reality. Headlines focus on outcomes, rising rents, falling supply, and affordability pressures, but rarely capture the decisions driving those outcomes.

The private rented sector is shaped by thousands of individual commercial decisions made by landlords every day. Whether to refinance, hold, sell, invest or exit altogether. Until now, there has been no structured, independent mechanism to measure those decisions as they happen.

Property118 is uniquely positioned to help fill that gap. Our articles now appear in more than 3,000,000 Google Search impressions each month, reflecting a substantial specialist readership drawn from across the housing ecosystem.

Building on established academic collaboration

This initiative builds on Property118’s established role supporting academic housing research. Over the years, Property118 has assisted projects led by institutions including the University of York and the University of Sheffield, helping researchers engage directly with landlords and disseminate findings to practitioners.

Those collaborations demonstrated something important. When landlords are given the opportunity to contribute to structured research, the result is a clearer and more accurate understanding of housing supply dynamics.

Property118 is now expanding that capability by developing a recurring research framework designed to produce transparent, repeatable indicators that improve public understanding of housing supply.

Opening discussions with research and journalism organisations

As part of this initiative, Property118 has opened discussions with several respected organisations and institutions whose work aligns with strengthening independent journalism, academic research, and housing transparency.

These discussions reflect a shared recognition that reliable, practitioner-informed data is essential to improving understanding of housing supply and policy outcomes.

Property118’s objective is straightforward. To ensure that landlord decision-making, the engine that ultimately determines rental supply, is properly understood and represented within housing research and public debate.

Introducing the Property118 Inner Circle Research Panel

To support this work, Property118 is inviting landlords to join the Property118 Inner Circle Research Panel.

This panel will form the foundation of an ongoing research programme designed to measure real-world sentiment and supply intentions across the private rented sector.

Panel members will periodically be invited to participate in structured surveys covering areas such as:

• Portfolio expansion or reduction intentions
• Refinancing expectations and constraints
• Confidence in the future of the sector
• Regulatory and commercial pressures influencing decision-making
• Investment, divestment, and exit planning

Participation will be entirely voluntary, and individual responses will remain confidential. Findings will be published only in aggregated form.

Why landlord participation matters

Reliable housing policy depends on reliable data. Without direct insight into landlord behaviour, policymakers and commentators are left to infer causes from outcomes.

The Property118 Inner Circle Research Panel will help ensure that landlord decision-making is properly understood, improving the accuracy of housing research, journalism, and public debate.

For landlords, participation offers the opportunity to contribute to a clearer, evidence-based understanding of the sector at a time when policy decisions increasingly shape commercial outcomes.

A long-term commitment to housing transparency

This initiative reflects Property118’s long-standing commitment to improving understanding of the private rented sector through independent, commercially grounded reporting.

By formalising its research capability and engaging directly with landlords, Property118 aims to create a lasting evidence base that supports informed decision-making across the housing ecosystem.

The private rented sector will continue to evolve. Ensuring that evolution is properly understood benefits landlords, tenants, researchers, and policymakers alike.

Landlords who wish to participate in the Research Panel are invited to register interest via the link below.

Register your interest