The JV, which the UK retail bank and real estate investment firm said was poised to become one of the UK’s largest providers of purpose-built single-family rental homes, has secured an initial “seed portfolio” of four sites, in partnership with Countryside Properties.
The launch properties consist of 321 single-family homes, in established communities in the Midlands, Greater Manchester and Merseyside regions.
The Bank said that under the JV it hoped to develop existing partnerships and form new ones with other housebuilders, forward funding the rental schemes and reaching the portfolio’s target of 2,500 houses.
This adds to Gatehouse Bank’s two other significant Build to Rent portfolios. In January it sold Thistle - a portfolio consisting of 918 houses across 15 sites mainly of two and three-bedroom homes in North West England - to Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division for a total consideration of around £150 million.
Paul Stockwell, Gatehouse Bank’s chief commercial officer, said: “We are delighted to have found an experienced, institutional partner in TREP as we launch our third major private rental investment initiative. This joint venture will see significant capital being deployed to build and develop the next generation of Build to Rent housing, concentrating on high-quality family homes in suburban locations.”
James Piper, partner at TREP, commented: “We are pleased to be partnering in this joint venture with Gatehouse, a skilled operator in the UK’s Build to Rent market. TREP has a strong track record of developing and owning high quality private rental assets in North America and we are excited to leverage this expertise to achieve similar success in the UK, where there is a strong and growing demand for new-build rental homes.”
