Swiss Life Asset Managers has teamed up with the UK government’s housing agency, and property developer Capital & Centric to build more than 2,250 homes in England.

Impact & Places Partnership, a joint venture between Swiss Life AM, Homes England and Manchester-based Capital & Centric, aims to deliver more than £860m (€975m) of “high-quality homes over the next decade in regions where demand for housing is most acute”.

Swiss Life AM and Capital & Centric will take a combined 60% stake in the joint venture.

Jan Plückhahn, head of real estate at Swiss Life AM, said: “Swiss Life AM has a strong residential investment heritage, and this joint venture expands our ambition to develop housing solutions beyond our traditional markets in Switzerland, Germany and France. We look forward to bringing our financial strength and expertise, as one of Europe’s longest-standing financial institutions, to the partnership.”

Simon Century, CIO of Homes England, said: “Attracting institutional investment into the housing sector is critical to build the new homes the country needs and contributes to the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes in this parliament.

“This new joint venture aims to develop high-quality, mixed-use residential schemes and brings together Swiss Life’s real estate experience and expertise with Capital & Centric’s impressive residential-led placemaking focus.

“Our investment in this joint venture is further evidence of our commitment to attract private capital into the residential market, while supporting small and medium developers to realise their own housebuilding ambitions.”

Tom Wilmot, joint managing director of Capital & Centric, added: “This joint venture brings together three like-minded partners focused on delivering high quality neighbourhoods in a range of locations – not just in core cities but also in under-invested locations where the impact story is more compelling and the supply and demand dynamics are more favourable.

“This demonstrates that risk management, long-term returns and delivering positive social change are not mutually exclusive, because doing good and doing well can, and should, go hand in hand.”

Steve Reed, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, said: “We will get Britain building again by backing brilliant homegrown developers like Capital & Centric, and bringing in major institutional investors like Swiss Life Asset Managers, to build the homes this country desperately needs.

“We are pulling every lever to fix the housing crisis and it is exactly this kind of deal that will help us build the 1.5 million homes, faster and in the communities that need them most.”

To read the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.

Topics