PROPERTY giant Grainger said its policy of concentrating on the most economically active areas is paying off. The Newcastle-based company, which is Britain’s biggest residential landlord and also owns property in Germany, is now outperforming the housing market, according to its interim figures.

In the six months to the end of March, Grainger increased sales from its UK portfolio of property by 5.8% to £94.6m and its fee-based income rose by 61.2% to £5m.

This compared with the average movement in two most often-used house price measures, the Halifax and Nationwide, between October 2011 and March 2012, which fell by 0.1%.

Grainger chief executive Andrew Cunningham said: “If you take the arbiter as the Halifax and Nationwide indices, we are outperforming those indices.

“There is the geographical weighting of the portfolio in high growth areas. The Halifax and Nationwide indices are based on mortgage lending and we are selling secondhand stock and a lot are sold for cash, so it is not so dependent on mortgages.

“They tend to be lower value, they need to be refurbished.

“We generally sell them through an estate agent, but because of the type of property, we get a higher percentage of other landlords or DIY and amateur developers.”

At the end of March, 62% of Grainger’s UK portfolio was located in London and the South East, compared with 53% a year ago.