Long Harbour has secured a £300m equity commitment from South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) for its single-family housing (SFH) fund.
The capital raise marks the close of the fund’s seed round, which will enable Long Harbour to execute an initial deployment target of up to £600m of SFH assets from 2025, with the next close expected by the end of 2025 for other investors.
The fund will look to acquire forward funding, forward purchase and standing stock opportunities in the first instance and will target new-build family homes across the UK, with a focus on the South and South East of England.
The SFH fund is headed up by managing director Jack Spearman, who joined Long Harbour in 2009 and led the origination and execution team for Long Harbour’s UK residential secured income programme.
William Astor, chief executive at Long Harbour, said: “With over a decade of experience of investing and managing single family housing, we have delivered outstanding returns for our investors from this asset class. Our successful exit from previous single family assets in 2022 marked a significant milestone, and we are excited to launch our latest dedicated single family housing fund at this opportune moment.
“We are particularly pleased to have secured this funding agreement with such a prominent global investment partner as NPS, who recognise Long Harbour’s track record and commitment to growing our single family housing portfolio, and the value of this asset class.”
Spearman added: “Our ambition through the launch of this fund is to address the undersupply of high quality, energy efficient and modern, suburban housing in the UK. Currently, three million UK rental households live in low quality, poorly managed suburban homes. There needs to be better rental options for those who cannot afford to buy or choose to rent. We look forward to playing a role in helping to meet this need and to assist the government with its target to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years.”
David Yoon, portfolio manager at NPS, said: “Our investment in the creation of a platform, designed specifically to deliver new and sustainable single family homes in the UK, will assist in addressing the chronic undersupply of high-quality homes across the country. We intend to generate significant benefits for both housing providers and prospective tenants, while providing stable and long-term returns.”
CBRE advised Long Harbour on the capital raise.
