Hearthstone Investment Management Limited, an institutional investment manager specialising in UK residential property, has exchanged on 113 new homes across southern England and the midlands, on behalf of Hearthstone Residential Fund 1 (HRF1), its ten-year closed-ended private equity fund investing in the private rented sector across the UK regions.
The latest acquisitions, with a combined value of GBP28 million, complement the HRF1’s existing portfolio of homes in areas with good local infrastructure, and are aimed at families, professionals and key workers looking for high-quality, long-term rentals.
The new additions include 80 units in Milton Keynes and Stoke Mandeville, both in Buckinghamshire, and Witney in Oxfordshire – areas which continue to show great demand for rental properties from those working for local employers or commuting to London and Oxford. In addition, the fund has acquired 33 homes in Daventry, in the Midlands, a growing and well-connected historic market town near Northampton.
Richard Otten, Partner and Director of Asset Management at Hearthstone Investment Management, says: “These latest acquisitions add to asset clusters already established through previous acquisitions by the fund and strengthen our footprint across southern England and the midlands. This is further evidence that we continue to partner with leading housebuilders to source and secure high-quality residential assets.”
Andrew Smith, Partner and CIO at Hearthstone Investment Management, says: “When we launched the fund nearly two years ago, we set the goal of building and managing a diversified PRS portfolio across the UK regions. We are well on track with over 700 homes and we are currently exploring new investment opportunities in the north of England.”
The ten-year closed-ended private equity fund announced its final closing earlier this year, with commitments of over GBP200 million from seven UK local authority pension funds – Derbyshire Pension Fund, Merseyside Pension Fund, Nottinghamshire Pension Fund, Staffordshire Pension Fund, Teesside Pension Fund, Tyne and Wear Pension Fund, and West Midlands Pension Fund.
