US property company Greystar has announced plans for the delivery of up to 20,000 professionally managed “UK garden-style” rental homes over the next four years.
The strategy launches with the acquisition of a development site at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, from master developer Urban&Civic, where Greystar will deliver its first garden-style rental community.
The site will deliver 387 rental homes within Urban&Civic’s 6,500-home masterplan on the former Waterbeach Barracks site, four miles north of Cambridge.
The development is backed by Greystar Equity Partners Europe II (GEPE II), the company’s recently closed €2.7bn pan-European residential fund, the largest residential fund of its kind raised in Europe to date.
According to Greystar, which manages nearly 60,000 homes and student beds, “garden-style rental housing combines lower and mid-rise homes, generous green space, shared amenities and professional management in communities designed for long-term renters”.
The firm said it had been inspired by the principles of the UK’s own historic garden communities and informed by Greystar’s decades of international experience.
Despite strong demand for high-quality rental housing, this type of professionally managed community remains largely absent from the UK market, Greystar added in a statement.
Mark Allnutt, executive director, Europe, at Greystar, said: “The UK’s leading centres of innovation can only thrive if people can afford to live close to where opportunity is being created. That’s one of the biggest challenges facing our fastest-growing regional economies today.
“Waterbeach is the first step. Backed by GEPE II, we have the capital, experience and partnerships to deliver this new approach at scale in the places where it can make the greatest economic and social impact.”
Lord Stockwood, UK minister for investment, said: “The UK is a top investment destination and Greystar’s plans to deliver up to 20,000 high-quality homes will provide a major boost to local communities while supporting economic growth in places such as the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.
“These rental homes will support professionals in sectors like life sciences and tech – backing our modern industrial strategy and ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of innovation.”
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