Being a private landlord in Britain no longer makes financial sense, says Zoopla boss

In terms of potentially reforming the mortgage market, Mr Bryant said banks should open up lending to more first-time buyers by using their rental payment histories as a way of assessing affordability.

“Could we take a lesson from some of the other geographies worldwide and be more aggressive on lending? Certainly loan-to-value lending is a lot higher in other geographies than it is in the UK,” he said.

“In the Netherlands, average LTVs for first-time buyers are above 100pc because they look at the borrower as much as they look at the collateral. I think we could certainly take a leaf out of that.”

Crucially, he believes Britain also needs to reform the purchasing process, as too often buyers are caught by housing chains collapsing.

“We have this peculiarly English thing about chains and everyone pulling out at the last minute, which can then collapse five other purchases,” said Mr Bryant.

“The costs associated with that – productivity, emotion, stress – are huge.” 

This degree of uncertainty can be a crucial factor in deterring sales, he added, particularly for larger corporate buyers. 

To streamline Britain’s “crazy” buying process, which involves buyers and sellers having to pay large fees to surveyors and mortgage brokers, he recommends a two-pronged approach. 

Not only should the Government introduce rules to shorten transaction periods but it should also broaden access to Land Registry data. 

Mr Bryant said this would allow everyone involved to see information about a property’s history, including any hidden service charges. 

Having been drafted in as chief executive of Houseful since 2018, Mr Bryant has run the company under the ownership of US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. Six years into their tenure, Mr Bryant insists there are no plans to sell. 

“Increasingly, for large, growth-oriented private equity firms, they are significantly more focused on how to drive the greatest level of longer term growth,” he said. “For us personally, we have no specific immediate plans.”

What is more pressing for Mr Bryant now is the prospect of new wealth taxes under Labour, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves seeks to raise around £10bn to rebuild public services.