Ascend has secured a mandate from Invesco Real Estate to manage the firm’s first single-family rental (SFR) scheme in the UK.
The instruction covers 99 homes acquired from Hopkins Homes at the Beaulieu development in Chelmsford, Essex, which will be operated by Ascend under the firm’s new resident-facing Ascend Living brand.
The homes comprise a mix of two- and three-bedroom houses and two low-rise apartment blocks.
Rob Johnston, managing director – head of investment, UK and Nordics at Invesco Real Estate, said: “The underlying fundamentals behind the growth of the UK SFR market remain highly attractive and are creating a strongly positive investment case for institutional investors. It’s important to emphasise that tenants sit at the centre of the market so creating attractive homes that people want to live in is key. As such, it’s vital to work with best in class partners such as Ascend.”
Lee Hill, commercial director at Ascend, added: “Invesco Real Estate is one of the leading names in investment management, and its choice of Ascend for its first UK SFR scheme highlights the strengths of our end-to-end management service and in particular our proprietary tech platform and territory manager model, allowing us to operate in any location in the UK with all aspects managed in-house.
“We look forward to bringing this scheme to the market and working closely with Invesco to drive performance as it makes its initial move into the UK SFR asset class.”
