Pictet Group’s alternative investment business has acquired 73 newly built residential apartments in West London for its latest European value-add direct real estate fund.
Pictet Alternative Advisors (PAA) made the acquisition on behalf of the Elevation II fund at a purchase price believed to be close to £30m (€34.8m), according to industry sources.
This transaction, made by PAA in a joint venture with Pinnacle Investments, marks the maiden acquisition for the manager’s Elevation II fund.
Elevation II is the second iteration of Pictet’s value-add Elevation I fund for which it raised €700m in 2020 at final close.
Located in Lampton Park in Hounslow, the 73-unit asset for Elevation II comprises more than 50,000sqft spread across two connected blocks in a multi-phase regeneration scheme.
While London’s residential market has withstood recent macro shocks, the lack of professional landlords within the rental sector and declining house price affordability have created a significant imbalance between the supply and demand of rental properties, Pictet said.
Ed Jackson, head of UK direct real estate at PAA, said: “Today more than 20% of UK households rent their main home compared with below 10% in 1995. This swing from ownership to rental coincides with a structural shortage of professionally-run multifamily developments in the UK.
”Our strategy seeks to address this imbalance and provide Londoners with affordable, energy efficient and well-located homes. With this transaction, and further acquisitions as part of this strategy, we are aiming to create a portfolio of institutional quality and size in one of Europe’s strongest investment markets.”
PAA’s investment strategy aims to ease the supply/demand disparity in the London residential market and provide tenants with high-quality, energy efficient homes in well located neighbourhoods with strong transport links.
PAA intends to ‘greenify’ the assets through initiatives such as fitting solar panels and the installation of further EV charging points, and will play an active role in initiating a range of tenant support and community initiatives, the manager added.
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