Thrive Homes and global real assets investment manager CBRE Investment Management – on behalf of their UK Affordable Housing Fund (UK AHF) – have completed their first joint transaction.
CBRE Investment Management has acquired a portfolio of 117 affordable rent and shared ownership properties across six schemes in the Northern Home Counties that had been developed by Thrive Homes.
This represents the first tranche of a wider partnership, which aspires to acquire over 1,000 affordable homes.
Thrive will retain a minority economic interest in the homes and will also oversee the development of and the sales, lettings, onboarding, and aftercare of the co-developed properties that will be available for affordable rent and shared ownership.
In a move to provide an equitable ownership structure in the affordable housing sector, as long-term partners, Thrive Homes and CBRE Investment Management will share the risk and return of ownership and operation of the homes.
Growth objectives
The transaction will assist Thrive in accelerating its development programme of c.300 homes per annum, which it says will continue to grow through building out schemes in its 1,000-unit landbank.
Thrive has a growth objective of doubling in size over the next 10 years; it currently owns and manages 5,100 homes across the home counties.
CBRE UK Affordable Housing Fund was one of the first UK unlisted funds targeting institutional client capital into affordable housing across the UK.
It has spearheaded the need for institutional capital to fulfil the funding shortfall of investment to build, refurbish, and maintain affordable housing stock where it’s needed most.
Jack Burnham, executive director of Growth and Investment for Thrive Homes, said: “We are
extremely excited to announce our partnership with CBRE Investment Management.
“It helps to provide Thrive with a viable route to meet our strategic growth objectives to double in size, increasing our development programme to over 500 homes per annum, but most importantly will enable us to deliver much-needed affordable homes in areas that are some of the most expensive to live in the UK.
“We are delighted to have entered into partnership with CBRE Investment Management and are particularly pleased this transaction will provide not just shared ownership properties, but affordable rented properties too.”
Andrew Davey, fund manager of the UK Affordable Housing Fund, CBRE Investment Management, added: “This transaction represents the commencement of an exciting partnership with Thrive, whose ethical ethos is aligned with ours.
“By delivering much needed affordable homes we are meeting our investors’ social impact objectives as well as investing in good quality homes managed by Thrive to provide long-term income for investors.
“This transaction concluded a successful year for the Fund. We have experienced significant interest from investors who are increasingly seeking an investment opportunity which provides both demonstrable impact qualities whilst maintaining robust return characteristics.
“As a result, the fund has provided equity for over 1,000 much-needed affordable homes to date and have significant equity to invest in similar opportunities with counterparties such as Thrive who share our investors ethos and long-term objectives.”
Image: Worawee Meepian/Shutterstock
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