Welcome to your weekly round-up of residential stories from EG.
Dutch pension fund APG and real estate investor Hines are preparing to launch a new business that will operate their 4,000-home PRS portfolio in Dublin.
This week EG revealed the new platform Hali, which will launch formally in the coming weeks and will oversee the running of the portfolio, including the 1,300-home Cherrywood scheme (pictured). The company is 95% owned by APG and 5% by Hines.
The news broke as Hines also announced plans to buy UK property management firm Helix to launch it own European management platform.
APG and Hines are not the only ones looking to bring operations in-house. The strategy follows others in the BTR world – with EcoWorld London and Quintain both recently launching new brands.
This week, US BTR developer Cortland doubled its manpower buying block manager Qdime. The company has a number of property management subsidiaries, some £25m in net assets and 164 employees at the end of 2020. Cortland chief executive Steven DeFrancis said the acquisition will allow the developer to “expand our service and footprint across the country, accelerate our operations and enhance the living experience for more residents”.
There have been further business sales in China, as developers take dramatic steps to raise finance to meet large interest payments and reduce debt. While the world’s largest developer Evergrande has been dominating headlines, EG looks at those developers with major holdings in the UK, and how they are reacting to Beijing’s “three red lines”.
Meanwhile, in Brighton, the Labour Party conference saw a number of radical pledges. Shadow housing secretary Lucy Powell promised a new building works agency, greater levels of local authority housebuilding and, controversially, an end to hedge funds buying off-plan housing. Powell said: “For too long, spectators and developers have held most of the cards – ducking minimal commitments, extracting huge scale from the public for land and doing too little for first-time buyers and local people.”
Speaking of divisive debates, McCarthy Stone chief executive John Tonkiss would like to see more of a focus on creating a feasible, holistic system for housing and care – and less on the intergenerational divide. His comments follow a £5.4bn social care package and a contentious tax hike to pay for it. But Tonkiss said: “The government must take this opportunity to understand the pivotal role that specialist retirement housing can play in addressing the social care crisis and why access to this housing is about serving not just the needs of older people, but those of wider society.”
Another inspiring op-ed in EG this week comes from Geeta Nanda, chief executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley. Reflecting on the dismal results of EG’s second race survey – which exposed a worsening situation and need for action – Nanda urged the industry to sign up to the Mayor’s Fund for London’s Firm Foundations.
She said: “If we are serious about breaking the glass ceiling that holds people back, we have to start by building firm foundations. Not next week, not tomorrow, but now. Now is the time to make sure the discussion we’ve all had is backed up with action. Join us.”
View the magazine, download the app (iOS and Android) and read on for more of the week’s headlines:
Joint venture agrees new tenure plan for £3.5bn Silvertown Quays
Moda gears up for co-living launch
Ilke raises £60m to build 2,000 homes a year
Civitas tenant investigated by social housing regulator
Peabody and Catalyst merger confirmed
Peabody publishes first ESG report
Islington buys back homes to house Afghan refugees
Inland Homes bags Newlon Build for E17
Galliard appoints head of strategic partnerships
PRS REIT to raise £75m for new site deals
Second home purchases soared by 83% during pandemic
To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@eg.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @EGPropertyNews
