Private real estate investment management firm Apache Capital Partners has sold a 251-bed student accommodation block in Cambridge to Cambridge County Council for £38 mln (€43 mln).
According to Apache, the deal reflects a net initial yield (NIY) of 4.76%, a record in the UK for a direct-let asset student accommodation outside London/the M25.
Brunswick House was completed in July 2012 and comprises 231 en-suite flats and 20 self-contained studios located near Anglia Ruskin University's Cambridge campus.
'We continue to look for attractive opportunities in our core sectors of student, healthcare and build to rent, focusing on prime locations and where the supply/demand dynamics remain compelling,' said Ben Pile, Apache's investment director.
The private investment manager noted that the exit yield compared favourably to the acquisition yield of 6.15% it paid in May 2013.
Apache said that the asset's strong occupancy track record and location generated interest from a significant number of potential bidders, including domestic and international institutions.
This is Apache's third student accommodation scheme sale for its social infrastructure platform, and is its second to have set a new market yield level following Paris Gardens, Southwark, which transacted in 2015, at 4.9% NIY, a record for direct let student accommodation in London at the time.
MTRE advised Apache Capital and Carter Jonas advised Cambridge County Council. The legal advisers were Trowers & Hamlins and Birketts respectively.
