Kingstone Real Estate has received a €150m separate account mandate from an institutional investor to invest in affordable housing in Germany.
When combined with a planned 50% level of leverage, the unnamed institutional investor’s capital will give the open-ended Kingstone Bezahlbares Wohnen Deutschland I €300m in investment firepower.
Kingstone Real Estate said around a third of the fund’s €300m has already been committed via notarised sale-and-purchase agreements for projects in Mannheim, Nuremberg, Fürth and Weil am Rhein.
Tim Schomberg, CEO and co-founder of Kingstone Real Estate, said: “For us as an investment boutique, it is a strong sign of confidence that an institutional investor decided to commit an investment volume of this magnitude in the affordable housing segment together with us and our specialists.
“At the investor’s request, we structured the vehicle as a separate account mandate. Our longer-term outlook is to address the persistent demand through a successor fund that will engage the subject of affordable and subsidised housing in Germany on a larger scale and with specific key aspects added.”
Hansainvest Hanseatische Investment Gesellschaft serves as the fund’s third-party alternative investment fund manager, Kingstone Real Estate said, adding that it is already preparing a successor fund in the affordable housing segment.
Ansgar Pape, managing director of Kingstone Residential Investments, said: “We are already in exclusive due diligence negotiations and detailed pre-acquisition audits for many other attractive residential projects in Germany. The auspicious pipeline illustrates not only the strong demand for affordable and subsidised housing but also the excellent market access and in-depth expertise of our team.
“Considering the reassuring pace of our progress, we are convinced that we will manage to place the remaining investment capital of our first fund in full and for this specific purpose in the foreseeable future – and that we will thus continue to contribute to the creation of urgently needed new housing stock.”
Simon Lieb, managing director of Kingstone Residential Investments, said: “In a parallel move, we are already preparing a successor fund and conducting talks to secure an attractive seed portfolio.
“In addition to affordable housing for families, seniors and singles, we also intend – based on the German government’s new ‘young living’ funding programe – to integrate affordable housing for students and apprentices. Doing so will help us broaden the effective scope of our approach and will contribute more specifically to the creation of just the right housing options for the various stages of life.”
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