Home Invest buys Belgium assets for €34m

Listed property company Home Invest Belgium has acquired the Louvimmo portfolio of mixed-use assets in the Belgian university city Louvain-la-Neuve.

The investment volume came to €34.4 mln.

International real estate advisors Savills and Jones Lang LaSalle advised on the sale to Home Invest Belgium.

Louvimmo comprises three fully let buildings with a total of 23,126 m2, divided into residential (40%), retail (36%), office and auditorium space (24%) across the three properties. The buildings include 51 ground floor retail units (8,273 m2) let to mostly food and independent retailers, as well as 4,134 m2 of office space. In addition 9,319 m2 of residential space is primarily let as student accommodation (77%).

Université catholique de Louvain (UCl) is Belgium’s largest French-speaking university and owns all the land in Louvain-la-Neuve, which is located 30 km from the Belgian capital Brussels.

Home Invest Belgium acquired the Louvimmo assets in a 'right-to build-deal' which expires in 2026. At this time UCL can choose to pay an indemnity at market value for the properties to be transferred back to the university or grant the owner a further long leasehold of 49 years, until 2075.

Gregory Martin, managing director at Savills Belux; 'The Louvimmo assets are excellent, fully let mixed-use properties in the city centre and are closely linked to the busy university which is one of Belgium’s largest with over 27,000 students. The high level of interest that we obtained for this asset reflects the increasing diversification trend that is present with many investors.'

Philip Vroninks, head of capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle Belgium, added: 'This transaction confirms the trend that institutional investors are increasingly looking at student accommodation as an asset class on its own and we expect to see more deals like this in the future.'