THE UK’s largest quoted residential property owner Grainger has seen sales rise by a quarter to £223m over the last year.

The Newcastle-based company said that net rents had also risen considerably in the 12 months to the end of September from last year’s £52.9m as rental prices grew and its property portfolio expanded.

Grainger added that its buying programme was “limited” with £22m worth of property acquired compared with £63m a year ago.

And the firm, which issued a trading statement ahead of its annual results next month said that sales on vacancy from its UK residential and equity release business rose to £116m from £110m a year ago. Investment sales were up to £64m from £40m a year ago.

The company added: “We enter our new financial year with a sales pipeline (contracts exchanged and solicitors instructed) of £34m which is an increase on the pipeline of £29m 12 months ago.”

Analyst Mark Fleetwood, of Brewin Dolphin in Newcastle, said he had now upped his forecast of full-year profits from £30m to £35m on the back of strong sales.

“Sales growth has been delivered in all segments, particularly investment sales which increased to £64m, from £40m last year. We now expect total sales to be around £280m against the £250m we were forecasting,” he said.