Petty has become a leading figure in social housing through his role as the consultancy’s head of UK residential valuation alongside various non-executive positions
JLL’s Richard Petty has announced his retirement after four decades working in the UK property sector and 29 years leading the consultancy’s affordable housing business.
For the last 12 years, he has served as JLL’s head of UK residential valuation with affordable housing forming the largest part of the business. He has also steered national teams in development valuation and build to rent and residential valuation and strategic advisory.
Petty said: “Back in 1996, as a commercial property surveyor, I agreed to give social housing a try for six months, to see if I liked it – it turned out I loved it, especially the social purpose of the sector, and the openness and collaboration between providers, lenders and other advisers.”
He began his career in commercial property in 1989, when he trained and qualified as a surveyor at Drivers Jonas following a year in the army and a stint in management consultancy.
He worked on major projects including British Airways’ new corporate headquarters at Heathrow, Crossrail (now the Elizabeth Line) and the acquisition of Bankside power station, to become Tate Modern.
In 1996, he took over the social housing team at Drivers Jonas, with two colleagues and a valuation business founded on the original wave of large scale voluntary transfers, which saw council housing acquired by housing associations, backed by private finance. In 2010, the business moved from Drivers Jonas Deloitte to King Sturge, which then merged with Jones Lang LaSalle, now known as JLL, a year later.
Lauren Hunt, currently deputy head of the UK residential valuation business, will lead the team of 120 colleagues located across eight JLL offices when Petty retires on March 31 2026.
She said: “Petty’s contribution to affordable housing over the last 30 years has been huge. He and his team have valued the security that underpins tens of billions of debt, that enables housing associations to invest in new and existing homes.”
Petty has also held a string of non-executive roles, including on the board of Richmond Housing Partnership, Dolphin Living and Anchor, where he also served as vice-chair.
He is currently on the board at Watford Community Housing Trust and a board observer at The Riverside Group, and involved with various sector bodies, including the British Property Federation’s Affordable Housing Committee, the National Housing Federation’s Property Finance Working Group (PFWG), and CIPFA’s housing finance manual board.
Petty said he intends to remain involved in the social housing sector through his work with Watford Community and Riverside.
JLL’s UK residential valuation team undertakes more than 2,000 valuation instructions every year and reports values exceeding £100bn annually in social housing alone.
Marc Burns was announced as head of UK affordable housing in July 2025, the largest of the valuation businesses, and will report to Hunt.
No comments yet