UK affordable homes provider Vistry Group is selling 1,750 new homes to Blackstone’s real estate arm and Regis Group.
Vistry said the pre-sold portfolio, which will cost £580m (€680.7m) to develop, is concentrated in South East England.
Construction of the first homes is expected to be finished by June 2024, with most of the homes completed within two years.
James Seppala, the head of European Real Estate at Blackstone, said: ”Institutional private capital can play an important role in providing high-quality housing stock across the UK, particularly in the private rented sector, which is significantly undersupplied today.
“Partnerships such as these can meaningfully accelerate the delivery of new homes and help alleviate structural undersupply across the sector.”
The portfolio would be managed by Leaf Living, a provider of private rented sector housing which is backed by funds managed by Blackstone and Regis.
Vistry said the deal aligns with its strategy of pre‐selling around 65% of all homes across the business and will help the group drive towards its medium‐term financial targets.
Greg Fitzgerald, Vistry’s CEO said: “By working in partnership with organisations like Leaf Living we can maximise the number of high‐quality homes we deliver every year.
“This agreement supports our differentiated business model, with the certainty provided by the pre‐selling of homes enabling us to accelerate our build programmes, guarantee work for our supply chain, reduce sales and build costs and create vibrant new communities.
“This year we are on track to deliver more than a 10% increase in new home completions, playing a key part in helping to address the UK’s acute housing shortage.”
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