Greykite European Real Estate Fund I and Gatehouse Investment Management have formed a joint venture to invest in purpose-built single-family rental (SFR) homes across the UK.
The partnership has acquired an initial seed portfolio across 11 sites, in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East, from housebuilder Persimmon Homes.
The portfolio will be asset managed by minority partner Gatehouse Investment Management, a leading living sector investment platform, with Ascend, the UK’s largest manager of SFR housing, appointed as property manager.
The JV will seek to partner with a range of housebuilders, including Persimmon, to deploy £750 mln (€893 mln) assembling a scaled portfolio of 2,500 newly-built, high-quality and sustainable SFR rental homes.
It will focus on critically undersupplied strategic regional locations, which are benefitting from a combination of supportive economic, demographic and employment drivers. The JV has already secured exclusivity on a number of additional sites, and is targeting purchase commitments of over £200 mln by the end of 2024.
The transaction follows on from the formal launch of Greykite and the Fund in March this year, and its debut investment in the Polish logistics sector, which completed in September. Greykite specialises in real estate and corporate investments across a series of asset classes which demonstrate durable fundamentals in select European markets.
Michael Abel, founder and CEO of Greykite, commented: 'The UK SFR sector benefits from a number of compelling demand fundamentals, and continues to be characterised by a chronic undersupply of purpose-built stock.
'In particular, we have identified several UK cities with attractive rental growth prospects, as a result of their supportive demographics, forecast GDP growth and good affordability metrics.'
Dan Valenzano, senior partner of Greykite, added: 'Greykite is excited to announce this JV with Gatehouse Investment Management together with the initial acquisition from Persimmon.
'With its strong operational and sustainability characteristics, the UK SFR sector presents one of the most attractive and sizeable near term investment opportunities. With housebuilders increasingly embracing partnerships with build-to-rent investors, we look forward to amassing a distinctive portfolio of high-quality homes across the UK.'
Paul Stockwell, group managing director of Gatehouse Investment Management, added: 'This launch comes at an exciting time in the SFR sector as it becomes an increasingly vital pillar of the UK’s housing mix. Greykite’s approach will complement our platform’s capabilities as we seek to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the asset class.
' With the first homes already acquired from Persimmon – a housebuilder we have worked with previously that understands the requirements of SFR – the new portfolio is on track to scale swiftly, leveraging the team’s sector understanding and delivery partner relationships to secure the best sites nationwide.'
