Patrizia has seeded a newly-launched open-ended core pan-European residential fund with €650m worth of assets and plans to grow to over a billion euros in assets next year.

The pan-European real estate manager said a number of existing and new global institutional investors from Europe and Asia have committed to the Patrizia Living Cities Residential Fund with further parties in advanced due diligence.

The fund, which will have a 35% loan-to-value ratio, will be targeting Europe’s metropolitan areas. It will focus on long term buy-to-hold strategies which will include 20% of the fund being invested into the living residential category including co-living, retirement and student housing.

The fund’s seed portfolio was assembled through a series of separate transactions.

Living Cities has so far invested in 12 European cities across the strongest residential markets, including income-producing German residential portfolio, the manager said.

Anne Kavanagh, CIO at Patrizia, said: “We are thrilled to have successfully launched this new flagship residential fund to capitalise on the exciting opportunities available within the European residential sector and the strength and depth of our experience in this market and our fund management capabilities.

“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our investors for their early commitment which demonstrates their confidence in our team and strategy. Living Cities is already creating enormous interest among investors due to the strong growth potential in Europe’s residential sector.”

Sebastian Dietert, fund manager, Living Cities Residential Fund at Patrizia, said to have locked in a seed portfolio of €650m is a testament to Patrizia’s deal-making capability and its ability to secure very attractive assets for its clients.

“The composition of the current Living Cities portfolio reflects the essence of this fund, namely to provide stable income with long-term capital growth prospects in strong micro-locations.

”In addition, we have a pipeline of approximately €1.5bn in additional acquisition targets thanks to our strong local expertise.”