New later living developer/operator Untold Living has received backing from investment firm Matter Real Estate and acquired its first UK sites. Untold Living is targeting a GDV of £300m for its initial development pipeline and is looking to develop multiple schemes across the UK.
The company has acquired the 64-unit Chantry Court retirement village in Westbury, Wiltshire, as its first site (pictured). The village will be refurbished to offer an enhanced range of amenities including a restaurant, bar, library, hair salon and cinema.
Untold Living has also secured a site in Crawley, West Sussex, and in Newport, Shropshire, where it will deliver two brand new schemes offering 100-200 one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The Newport site already has planning for the proposed development and a planning application for the Crawley site is expected to be submitted in Q1 2023.
The later living firm is headed up by Russell Jewell, AEW’s former head of private equity funds and Marcus Davidson-Wright, formerly managing director and head of debt and fund operations at AEW.
Jewell, chief executive at Untold Living, said: “With Britain’s later living sector primed for rapid growth over the coming years, the investment case for high-quality, purpose-built retirement housing with care is a strong one.
“However, it must be underpinned by a commitment to delivering the same quality of schemes and amenities that has enabled the sector to thrive for many years in Australia, New Zealand and the US. We are delighted, then, to receive the backing of Matter Real Estate – an investor which shares our vision for what the future of later living looks like in the UK.
“Our unique mid-market offering will open up retirement living to an even greater number of older elderly (typically 75+) who are considering downsizing into more age-appropriate accommodation with care.
“This will enable retirees to live more independent lives, combatting chronic issues affecting older people, especially loneliness, isolation and loss of a sense of purpose – which have been linked to cognitive and physical decline.
“A greater number of independent later living schemes will help alleviate the acute pressure on local health and social services while also tackling Britain’s housing crisis, freeing up larger homes with numerous spare bedrooms for first-time buyers and growing families.”
David Christie, CEO at Matter Real Estate, added: “We’re delighted to be backing the Untold Living team as they continue scaling up their platform providing high-quality housing solutions within the UK’s senior living sector.”
“Through our partnership with Untold Living, we will be deploying capital that will help to address the ever-intensifying senior living housing crisis in the UK, partly alleviating a shortfall of more than 487,000 recorded senior living housing units required.”
