Funding Affordable Homes (FAH), a social impact company which invests in UK affordable housing, has acquired the Island Point development south of Canary Wharf in London’s Docklands from City Pride for £28.5 mln (€32 mln).
Island Point, located close to the River Thames at 443-451 Westferry Road, comprises 173 affordable homes, made up of 109 social rented, 33 Affordable rented and 31 shared ownership homes. The development, which was designed by Squire & Partners, was carried out by Chalegrove Properties, which was appointed by City Pride under a development management agreement.
The homes are arranged in five blocks and consist of a mix of one-to-five bed apartments, maisonettes and houses with ancillary spaces, including a community pavilion, extensive external landscaped areas and children play areas, scooter/cycle stores, a basement car park and external disability parking.
The homes will be managed by Poplar Harca, a local housing association.
FAH, a fund whose property adviser is Edmond de Rothschild Real Estate Investment Management.
James Whidborne, head of residential fund management UK at Edmond de Rothschild Real Estate Investment Management, which advised the FAH fund, said that the company aims to grow the fund to over £500 mln within two years ‘given the merits of the sector from both a social impact and returns perspective’. ‘The asset is a milestone for Funding Affordable Homes, representing close to 20% of its rental income and providing a solid platform from which we now aim to raise additional capital,’ he noted.
Paul Munday, fund manager of FAH, said: ‘This acquisition enables us to support the new build of affordable housing in Tower Hamlets, one of London’s poorest boroughs, where there is an acute need for more affordable housing.’
FAH aims to promote the delivery of new affordable housing, while providing investors with long and secure income streams and capital appreciation. It has already acquired, or committed to acquire, around £170 mln of socially-beneficial housing projects in London, the east and south of England and other parts of the country. It typically provides forward funding to enable new properties to be built and managed by established Registered Providers of housing, but it also owns and utilises its own housing association, Funding Affordable Homes Housing Association.
Current investors include Big Society Capital and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
