Council secures a long-term finance package
Bromley Council secured a finance package, earmarked for those currently homeless or in temporary accommodation. With the hope that the fund will enable over 200 properties to be acquired.
The demand for social housing & assisted living has been on the rise, and large firms are having to acquire rapidly to keep up with the number of people needing accommodation.
The cost of construction has rapidly increased, leading to fewer developments being started and further decreasing the number of houses being built per year.
The financing package has been put together through a joint venture between Phoenix Group and Macquarie Asset Management.
Gareth Edwards, senior vice president at Macquarie Asset Management said "With more than £1 billion invested on behalf of our clients in this sector to date. this latest agreement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to helping local authorities address the housing shortfall impacting the most vulnerable members of our society."
Increasing mortgage rates, new regulations, and further difficulties within the private rental sector are showing notable numbers of Buy-to-Let landlords exiting the market, opening up opportunities for strong financial players to acquire small/medium-sized portfolios.
Who else is looking to acquire property portfolios?
Lloyds Banking Group plans to acquire over 50,000 properties over the next 10 years, becoming one of the biggest private landlords in the UK. With the first 10,000 properties planned to be owned by 2025.
Various other large-scale companies, such as US property group Greystar, Goldman Sachs, and Goodstone Living also announcing lofty plans to invest heavily in the UK property market.
Conclusion
It is excellent to hear investors are able to invest with an ethical purpose and benefit those most in need. However, it is clear this is a lucrative strategy right now and is creating a 'hype' factor even in the lower levels of investors.
We hope that all future properties acquired for social housing and standard family lets are managed well, with the care of the tenant kept as a top priority.
We see both benefits and potential consequences to the private rental sector being bought out by large-scale national and international companies.
Let us know your thoughts.
If you're looking to acquire a property portfolio or have considered selling, please get in touch. We have clients on both sides waiting to transact.
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