Recently, I have been looking for UK shares to buy today for my portfolio. I have been concentrating on a couple of sectors, which I believe are perfectly positioned to benefit from significant themes in the UK economy.
These themes include the growing e-commerce industry and housebuilding industry. These sectors are currently experiencing robust growth, driven by rising consumer demand for e-commerce and new properties.
Here are four companies in the two different sectors that I would buy for my portfolio today.
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Shares to buy for e-commerce
Rather than focusing on individual retailers that may have an edge in the e-commerce sector, I will focus on infrastructure owners. The way I see it, not every company will succeed in the retail market, but every retailer will need a warehouse to fulfil orders.
With that in mind, I would buy Tritax Big Box REIT. This company focuses on so-called big box retail facilities, which are colossal fulfilment centres used by giant e-commerce retailers.
Along the same lines, I think FTSE 100 real estate investment trust SEGRO also deserves a place in my portfolio. Like Tritax, the company owns a portfolio of modern warehousing and light industrial property across the UK and Europe. It is larger than Tritax and therefore has more financial firepower to push ahead with new deals.
These companies benefit from the fact that internet giants do not want to build their own infrastructure, which can be costly and add unnecessary risks. Instead, they lease these properties from corporations like Tritax and SEGRO on long-term contracts that generally have inflation-linked terms.
This gives these contracts a defensive nature in uncertain times.
The one challenge these businesses could face is over construction. Money is flooding into the warehouse sector, and there is a chance the market could become oversupplied. This would put pressure on rates and could cause property values to fall.
UK shares for property
UK house prices have jumped over the past two years. A lack of supply and rising demand have pushed prices higher. This is good news for homebuilders. These firms are rushing to keep up with increasing demand.
I think Berkeley Group is one of the best UK shares to buy today to invest in this theme. The company focuses on the London market and has a strong balance sheet. It plans to return substantial sums to investors over the next few years with dividends and share repurchases.
While Berkeley’s output is relatively modest, with less than 2,000 homes produced in the first half, Bellway produces more than 10,000 homes a year.
Its mass-market approach is the reason why I would also buy this stock alongside Berkeley. I believe this method of buying a builder at the high and low end of the market is the best way to build exposure to the homebuilding sector overall.
The most considerable risk facing these companies is that of a housing market slowdown. This could hit property prices and force corporations to decrease output to match demand, reducing overall profitability.
