Partnership to target development in London and ‘surrounding commuter towns’
US real estate giant Greystar and a subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) have agreed a £2.2bn partnership deal to build build-to-rent-housing in the United Kingdom.
The partnership is aiming to create a development pipeline worth £1.8bn through equity commitments of £750m between the two parties. It will focus primarily on London and surrounding commuter towns.
A 0.84-acre-site on Lombard Road, Battersea, purchased by Greystar for £31m in June will become the partnerships first ‘seed’ asset.
The announcement follows Greystar’s £400m purchase of the remaining stake in build-to-rent company Fizzy Living from housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley yesterday.
The planned investment would be the second large portfolio developed by Greystar with ADIA subsidiaries in Europe. Since 2015 it has built a 6,000-home build-to-rent portfolio in the Netherlands.
Greystar is the largest operator of flats in the United States, managing more than 754,000 units, and says it has approximately $49.9 billion of assets under management. Greystar’s existing property portfolio in the UK is worth $4.2 billion and includes more than 11,000 units of student or rental housing.
Mark Allnutt, senior managing director ,Europe at Greystar, said: “Demographic trends and a severe structural undersupply of housing is driving demand for high quality rental homes in the UK, so this remains a high conviction investment strategy for Greystar.”
Salem Al Darmaki, deputy director of the Real Estate & Infrastructure Department at ADIA, said: “We believe strong long-term fundamentals are driving the demand for purpose-built rental housing in the London area.”
No comments yet