Global real estate investment manager Hines will invest around €500 mln in student housing in the UK 'in the next two to three years', Alex Knapp, managing director in the UK, told PropertyEU this week.
'We're looking at a broader strategy of diversification,' Knapp said. 'Student housing is part of that broader effort. Our goal is to invest around €500 mln in student housing in the UK in the next two to three years. We like the different fundamental economic drivers – student housing is tied to education, which is independent of GDP growth.'
This has enabled Hines to look outside central London – which has been its focus in the past – to 'Big 6' cities such as Edinburgh and Manchester, as well as Exeter, Cambridge, Oxford and Brighton, Knapp said. 'We're also looking at Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. We'd also like to do more deals with McLaren Property, having acquired almost their entire student housing development portfolio in the UK.'
At the end of April, Hines made its first foray globally into student housing by acquiring six prime student housing development sites in the UK from McLaren Property, a UK developer. The portfolio comprises six sites in Cambridge, Oxford, Kingston, Aberdeen and Brighton. Hines has entered into the forward-funding agreement for the portfolio valued at around £150 mln. Construction is expected to start shortly and the developments are due to be completed in 2017 and 2018.
Other new asset classes are also on the cards as part of the group’s diversification drive, according to Lars Huber, co-CEO for Hines Europe. 'Retail in Greece is also on our radar for the first time,' he said. 'We're interested in acquiring distressed hotels there and we’re about to announce our first deal. We're also looking to enter the multifamily market in the Netherlands. The fundamentals there are very interesting and we’d also be interested in developing properties there.'
Hines invested around €3 bn across Europe last year and expects to invest a similar amount this year, Lars Huber, co-CEO for Hines Europe, said. The group's AUM have grown by 300% in the past six years to €12 bn in Europe, across six funds, separate accounts and one-off ventures, he added.
