Five pension schemes join Bouwinvest's €3bn housing fund

Five Dutch pension funds have committed a total of €152.5m to Bouwinvest’s domestic residential fund, taking the total number of investors to 11.

Bouwinvest said its Dutch Residential Fund invested €470m last year and has reached a total asset value of €3bn, making it the largest unleveraged housing fund in the Netherlands.

It has a €700m development pipeline and has earmarked a further €600m to be invested over the next few years, and is therefore expected to surpass €4bn.

The fund was created after Bouwinvest’s main client BPF Bouw – the pension scheme for construction workers – decided in 2010 to open its domestic property portfolio to third-party investors.

Three investors joined last summer and four joined at the beginning of 2015.

Four of the latest crop of investors were advised by Russell Investments, Grontmij Capital Consultants, Almazara and Townsend Group.

The fund aims to deliver annual returns of 6%.

Bouwinvest CEO Dick van Hal said: “The interest in Dutch residential assets from both domestic and international institutional investors has sharply increased over the past couple of years, due to the low risk and stable long-term rental income they offer and the very positive dynamics of the market.”

The strategy focuses on mid-priced rental apartments for families, smaller households, starters and senior citizens in the liberalised market sector, mainly within the largest cities of the central Randstad and Brabant areas.

Van Hal said: “The demand for mid-priced rental apartments in the Netherlands is vastly exceeding the offering.”