New later-living developer Untold Living has secured financing from Matter Real Estate to acquire and develop schemes across the UK.
The firm is targeting a GDV of more than £300m for its initial development pipeline. It has acquired a 64-home retirement village in Westbury, Wiltshire (pictured), as its first scheme and purchased two sites for development in Crawley, West Sussex, and Newport, Shropshire.
The firm is headed by Russell Jewell, AEW’s former head of private equity funds, and Marcus Davidson-Wright, formerly managing director and head of debt and fund operations at AEW.
The schemes will offer a range of one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, as well as amenities, across different mid-market tenures, targeting “older elderly” retirees, typically over the age of 75, including properties to buy, rent and own through shared ownership.
The site for the Newport scheme already has planning consent for the proposed development. A planning application for the Crawley development is expected to be submitted early this year.
Untold Living is seeking to acquire other suitable sites across the UK to expand its portfolio.
Chief executive Russell Jewell said: “With Britain’s later-living sector primed for rapid growth over the coming years, the investment case for high-quality, purpose-built retirement housing with care is a strong one.
“Our unique mid-market offering will open up retirement living to an even greater number of older elderly who are considering downsizing into more age-appropriate accommodation with care.
“This will enable retirees to live more independent lives, combatting chronic issues affecting older people, especially loneliness, isolation and loss of a sense of purpose – which has been linked to cognitive and physical decline.
“A greater number of independent later-living schemes will help alleviate the acute pressure on local health and social services while also tackling Britain’s housing crisis, freeing up larger homes with numerous spare bedrooms for first-time buyers and growing families.”
David Christie, chief executive at Matter Real Estate, said: “Through our partnership with Untold Living, we will be deploying capital that will help to address the ever-intensifying senior living housing crisis in the UK, partly alleviating a shortfall of more than 487,000 recorded senior living housing units required.”
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