Private rented sector specialist, Greystar Real Estate Partners, has launched a new fund series for developing purpose-built rental housing in the UK market.
Named the Greystar UK Multifamily Fund 1, the investor and developer is targeting £750 mln (€850 mln) in equity from institutional investors. The company hopes to use its UK platform - which comprises 130 people in its London-based team - to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Since entering the UK market in 2013, Greystar has invested approximately €453 mln, including acquiring more than 30,000 student units and launching three portfolio brands.
Bob Faith, founder and CEO of Greystar, said: ‘There’s a significant need for professionally developed rental housing in the UK as the current stock is under-supplied, outdated and poorly managed.
‘The creation of this vehicle enables us to apply our market knowledge as well as our operational and development expertise to create an institutional-quality housing portfolio that appeals to a diverse base of renters.’
Mark Allnutt, Greystar’s senior managing director of investment management in the UK, added, ‘Launching this vehicle represents an important milestone in further expanding our operations in the UK. We have established a strong track record of putting capital to work in U.K. rental housing and are currently evaluating a robust pipeline of investment opportunities as we work to further institutionalize the sector.’
Greystar was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in South Carolina in the US. It manages a total of 495,000 multifamily units and student beds. Following the UK six years ago, the company expanded into The Netherlands in 2015, followed by China and Australia in 2016, and then Spain in 2017.
