M&G Real Estate has made a €41.7m forward funding commitment to a built-to-rent scheme in the Netherlands.

The fund manager is investing on behalf of its news European living property fund to develop MORE5, a scheme consisting 206 multi-family apartments and 178sqm of commercial space in Leiden, an academic and entrepreneurial hub in the Netherlands.

Laurien van Wieringen, head of real estate investment and asset management at M&G Real Estate in the Netherlands, said: “In the last decade, Leiden has experienced a close to 5% growth in population, resulting in shortage of around 10,000 homes.

“This project will contribute in a small way to alleviate the area’s housing undersupply, providing high-quality living solutions mainly targeting PhD students, researchers, guest lecturers and other university staff.”

Marcus Eilers, head of European residential at M&G Real Estate, said: “We are very pleased to add this high quality development as our sixth investment to our pan-European portfolio, gaining access to such a prime residential market as the Randstad area, and to continue looking to deliver attractive, risk-adjusted returns to institutional investors in the strategy.”

The deal is the M&G European Living Property Fund’s first investment in the Netherlands. The fund, which was launched in January, is backed by MN, the asset manager of Dutch pension funds PMT and PME.

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