Glasgow has 'huge opportunity' to tackle 'visual decline'

Its launch comes as calls continue to be made for the many vacant and older properties in Glasgow to be repurposed to encourage more people to live in the city centre and help revitalise the heart of town. Ms Higgins declared there is a “huge opportunity” to help bring properties like these in Glasgow and in other towns and cities across Scotland into the rental market.

“Glasgow and other Scottish cities have too many under-used buildings sitting in the wrong use, half-empty, or simply becoming part of the visual story of decline,” Ms Higgins told The Herald Business HQ Monthly.

“Glasgow has already acknowledged the importance of repurposing city centre properties, and the council has previously called for action to drive the essential repurposing of buildings.

“Many buildings will not suit residential conversion but where the bones of the building, location and planning context are right, conversions can bring life back into areas that could benefit from revitalisation while creating homes much faster than waiting for entirely new urban quarters to emerge. This is especially relevant in Glasgow, where there is a real need to reconnect parts of the city centre with living, not just working and passing through, and looking at European cities and beyond helps you see the potential.”

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Avalon arrives as the BTR sector in Scotland remains in its infancy compared with other major parts of the UK, with market analysis pointing to significant potential for growth.

The advisory business said analysis suggests there are currently more than 5,000 operational BTR homes in Scotland, with a further 13,840 in the pipeline. Of the number in the pipeline, 7,773 units are in Glasgow, 4,898 are in Edinburgh, and 1,094 in Aberdeen.

Ms Higgins, an asset management specialist who was heavily involved in the development of Skypark in Glasgow, said the city has the “scale, rental demand and HE (higher education) population opportunities to support far more institutionally backed schemes”.

However, she said that making this a reality “depends on viability, planning certainty, investor confidence, and a regulatory framework that is stable enough for long-term capital to commit”.

Asked if there remain barriers to the development of BTR projects in Scotland, following the easing of rent controls that had been credited with stymying investment, Ms Higgins said: “Yes, definitely. The mood is better than it was, and the recent exemption for BTR from rent controls has helped steady confidence but there are still barriers.

“The biggest issues are uncertainty, slow decision-making, viability pressure and the cumulative effect of regulation, planning requirements and build costs. Investors can deal with challenge but they struggle with unpredictability.

“If the environment feels too uncertain, money simply goes elsewhere.”

With many areas of Scotland dealing with housing emergencies, Ms Higgins says BTR schemes have a part to play in easing the crisis.

“BTR is not a silver bullet, but a meaningful part of the solution,” she said. “Scotland’s housing emergency will only be eased by increasing supply across multiple tenures, and BTR can deliver professionally managed, energy-efficient homes at scale, often more quickly than people expect when the right sites and partners are in place.

“Scotland declared a national housing emergency in May 2024, and the official policy response has recognised that increasing housing supply across tenures is essential. BTR should complement affordable and social housing rather than compete, attract private capital into new supply and take pressure off overstretched parts of the wider housing system. The Housing Investment Taskforce has explicitly highlighted BTR as a priority route for private capital into new homes in Scotland by encouraging rent control exemption and directing planning ease and public sector JV approaches.

“The housing emergency is too serious for ideological thinking.”

With war in the Middle East having an impact on interest rates in the UK – the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England voted to maintain the bank rate at 3.75% at its meeting in March amid growing concern over inflation – the effects of the conflict are already being felt in the mortgage market. Around 1,500 residential mortgage products were withdrawn from the market in the days immediately after the US and Israel began their assault on Iran, according to research by Moneyfacts.

When asked to assess the appetite for renting in Scotland and if concerns around interest rates will help BTR projects, Ms Higgins said: “There is clearly a strong appetite for renting in Scotland, particularly among younger professionals, mobile workers, students transitioning into employment, and people who either cannot or do not want to buy.

“In cities such as Glasgow, demand for quality rental housing remains strong, while constrained supply continues to support the case for professionally managed rental stock. “The city centre and Merchant City area has a 42.2% private renting rate. By comparison, German cities have among the highest rental rates in Europe. In Berlin and Hamburg, more than three-quarters (75%+) of all homes are rented. So there is scope for alignment toward continental neighbours.

“Interest rates have certainly reinforced rental demand because they make home ownership less accessible for many households. Higher costs of living also make deposits more difficult to achieve. This supports the BTR case from an occupier-demand perspective. But it is not a simple win for the sector, because higher rates also increase development and financing costs, so the same rate environment that strengthens rental demand can also make schemes harder to deliver.”

Prior to co-founding Avalon Partners, Ms Higgins established a reputation as an export in asset repositioning with experience across joint ventures and investment partnerships, including with Moorfield Group and Federated Homes. She also managed large-scale developments for Orion Capital Management.

Ms Rennie has extensive experience in operations and customer experience in living platforms and hospitality, including with Moda Living and citizen, and has been worked in scaling BTR portfolios, resident experience programmes, and operating frameworks.

Mr Matthews specialises in investment underwriting, structuring and commercial strategy across residential opportunities including new build, development, refurbishment and operational assets. He joined Coldunell Group in 2023 as consultant chief investment officer and board advisor and previously held senior roles, such as investment director at Great Portland Estates and property director at Moorfield Group.