Legal & General has completed its investment in a residential development site in Leeds, expanding its build-to-rent (BTR) strategy to five cities.
The investment in the £60m (€71.2m) Mustard Wharf scheme is its first in the city as it looks to plough £1bn into the BTR sector.
LGIM Real Assets made the investment on behalf of its specialist BTR fund, as well as Legal & General Capital and Dutch pension fund manager PGGM.
The investment takes its total pipeline to over 1,400 units with a gross development value of £420m.
PGGM last year joined Legal & General Capital in a partnership to invest £600m in the construction of 3,000 homes in the UK. Legal & General has also raised capital for its open-ended BTR fund from pension funds.
Mathieu Elshout, senior director of private real estate at PGGM, said its partnership with L&G has now secured five UK city regeneration schemes.
“This enables us to make a positive difference to the built environment,” he said. “Shaping the project from the outset, the L&G asset management team are able to create from scratch, good quality residential accommodation that suits renters’ needs and offers a new, professional level of customer service, while also addressing the UK’s housing shortage.”
James Lidgate, director of housing at Legal & General Capital, said: “This latest acquisition supports our vision of investing in long-term sustainable urban schemes that support wider urban regeneration to transform and reshape Britain’s landscape, bringing jobs and housing back into the centre of cities and better utilising our existing infrastructure.”
The partnership holds sites in Bristol, Bath and Walthamstow. Its Salford scheme in Greater Manchester is due to open next month.
The Mustard Wharf site was sold by U+I and Manchester-based developer CTP.
Construction will begin early next year, with completion expected in 2020.
Dan Batterton, BTR fund manager at LGIM Real Assets, said Mustard Wharf was “the ideal location for a BTR scheme in Leeds”.
He said: “It is close to major transport links and local amenities, and complements the wider regeneration of the local area, supporting job growth and the local economy over the long term.”
CBRE today estimated that £27.7bn of equity will target the UK’s BTR sector over the next five years.
Its Build to Rent Equity Barometer suggests a quarter of the capital is domestic, while almost half originates from North America.
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