UK affordable private rented housing specialist Hearthstone Investments has fully deployed the £152m (€177.9m) raised for its latest residential fund.
The deals made over the last month on behalf of Hearthstone Residential Fund 2 (HRF2) include a transaction for 45 new houses in Exmouth exchanged with a regional developer and an acquisition in Newcastle with a national housebuilder.
As of February 2024, the HRF2 portfolio holds 312 units with a further 150 being built.
Cedric Bucher, CEO at Hearthstone, said: “The acquisition in Newcastle is from a national housebuilder and forms part of a mixed-use strategic expansion known as Newcastle Great Park, north-west of the city centre. The project is about two thirds of the way through its projected 30-year build programme, with over 2,000 new homes from a planned target of about 3,000 so far built.
”Hearthstone Investments previously acquired homes in the same development for the Hearthstone Residential Fund 1 (HRF1), in 2019 and 2020, which have let well.”
”To make matters worse, the war in Ukraine led to a spike in inflation which further slowed construction of new homes and led to the cost of living crisis impacting affordability for renters.”
Hearthstone Investments said it is currently raising capital for the successor fund for HRF2. It follows the same investment strategy as HRF1 and HRF2, and has a semi open-ended structure, offering flexibility for institutional investors to adjust exposure.
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