PROVADA Dutch housing fund puts big portfolio up for sale

Dutch housing fund WIF is putting nearly 3,900 housing units up for sale in what is set to be one of the Netherlands’ biggest residential portfolio deals to date.

WIF has invited bids for the portfolio, which comprises a total 3,848 units in both the regulated social and liberalised market sectors. Bidders have until 3 September to make an offer.

The sale process is being managed by Capital Value. ‘There has never been this much demand for this type of residential portfolio from both domestic and foreign investors,’ said Capital Value director Marijn Snijders. He added that bids for the entire portfolio would take preference over offers for individual properties.

The announcement of the sale comes amid feverish deal activity in the Dutch residential market. On Tuesday, Bouwinvest REIM announced it was investing over €150 mln in homes in the Amsterdam and The Hague/Rotterdam areas. In another deal announced the same day, UK-based Round Hill Capital said it was acquiring a Dutch residential portfolio from CBRE Global Investors for around €180 mln in the biggest deal of its kind in the Netherlands since the financial crisis.

WIF (Wooninvesteringsfonds) was set up in 2005 to take over properties from financially ailing housing corporations so that they could focus on building new homes and renovate existing ones. But the fund has now itself run into problems after the properties it acquired dropped sharply in value following the financial crisis.

Like Vestia, an ailing housing corporation which has put nearly 7,000 units up for sale, WIF is betting on the strong international demand currently focused on the Dutch market to offload its assets so that it can meet its financing commitments. WIF reportedly has to refinance €320 mln of bank loans and faces a financing shortfall of around €80 mln.

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