Members of the British Property Federation (BPF), the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) and the Investment Property Forum (IPF) have voted to create a new representative organisation for the real estate sector called Real Estate: UK (RE:UK).
The move was overwhelmingly backed by members of the three organisations with 100% of AREF members, 99.5% of BPF members and 92% of IPF members expressing their support for the merger.
RE:UK will serve as a unified voice for the real estate sector and its activities will be based around six key pillars: advocacy; research and data; thought leadership and innovation; networking and events; up-skilling and training; and standards and guidance.
The chairs of AREF, the BPF and IPF will work together to appoint a chair who will lead the first RE:UK board and a chief executive for RE:UK.
RE:UK will officially launch on 1 January 2026 and initially members will have dual membership until the organisations are fully integrated.
Anne Breen, chair of AREF, said: “The response from the memberships of AREF, BPF and IPF has been overwhelmingly positive and a strong endorsement of our vision for a single, amplified voice for the real estate sector.”
Simon Carter, president of the BPF, added: “I am delighted that BPF members have expressed their overwhelming support for the creation of RE:UK. I look forward to working with AREF and IPF over the next few months to turn our shared vision for a new powerful body for the sector into reality.”
Clare Thomas, chair of IPF, said: “On behalf of the IPF board, I would like to thank IPF members for taking the time to consider the proposal and then giving the merger their strong support. This is the culmination of significant work across all three organisations, and we look forward to the launch of RE:UK in 2026 as an important step forward for the real estate industry.”
