Housebuilder Vistry has agreed a deal with investors Blackstone Real Estate and Regis to buy 1,750 new homes in the southeast for £580m, which will go directly into the private rented sector.
The first homes, concentrated in the southeast, are expected to be completed by the end of June. The majority of properties are scheduled to be built within the next two years.
The portfolio will be managed by estate manager Leaf Living, which was founded by Blackstone and Regis in 2021.
Blackstone head of European real estate James Seppala says: “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.”
Vistry chief executive Greg Fitzgerald adds: “By working in partnership with organisations like Leaf Living we can maximise the number of high-quality homes we deliver every year.”
Fitzgerald points out that the deal “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”.
Last week, average UK rent rises slowed to 8.9% in the year to April to £1,254 per month from 9.2% the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics.
London saw the highest rental inflation of any English region at 10.8%, with average rents hitting £2,070 in April, from a record high of 11.2% in March.
Tightness of supply is blamed by both landlord and tenant groups for rising rents.
