Blackstone Real Estate and Regis Group have agreed to acquire a portfolio of around 1,750 new build homes with a total GDV of circa £580m from Vistry Group.
The homes are concentrated in the South East of England and are largely plots from Vistry’s former housebuilding land bank. The first completions under the agreement are expected by the end of June 2024, with the majority of homes expected to complete within the next two years.
The portfolio will be managed by Leaf Living, which is backed by funds managed by Blackstone and Regis.
Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive of Vistry Group, said: “By working in partnership with organisations like Leaf Living we can maximise the number of high-quality homes we deliver every year. This agreement supports our differentiated business model, with the certainty provided by the pre-selling of homes enabling us to accelerate our build programmes, guarantee work for our supply chain, reduce sales and build costs and create vibrant new communities. This year we are on track to deliver more than a 10% increase in new home completions, playing a key part in helping to address the UK’s acute housing shortage.”
James Seppala, head of European real estate at Blackstone, added: “Institutional private capital can play an important role in providing high quality housing stock across the UK, particularly in the private rented sector which is significantly undersupplied today. Partnerships such as these can meaningfully accelerate the delivery of new homes and help alleviate structural undersupply across the sector.”
