The UK’s largest pension fund has acquired 3,000 homes from Blackstone for more than £400m.
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has snapped up the portfolio of shared ownership homes from affordable housing company, Sage.
Sage is majority-owned by Blackstone alongside real estate investor Regis and was formed in 2017.
The £405m deal is the first sale by Blackstone from its UK residential portfolio which numbers around 20,000 homes.
Shared ownership schemes allow buyers who can’t afford to purchase the whole property to take on a share of their new home.
The schemes aim to help people get on the housing ladder and provide them with the option to buy the rest of the home over time.
James Seppala, head of real estate Europe at Blackstone, said: “Through Sage Homes which was established in 2017, Blackstone has been the largest provider of newly built affordable housing in the country for the last three years.
“By deploying capital to fund the development of new homes, we are proud to have created an institutional grade portfolio which has, in turn, attracted more long-term institutional capital into the sector.
“This transaction will allow us to continue to invest capital into Sage Homes to help alleviate the structural undersupply of housing across the U.K.”
Sage Homes has stated that it’s committed approximately £3.7bn to fund the development of 22,600 affordable rent and shared ownership homes, of which over 17,000 have been delivered to date.
Chair Alison Thain said: “This sale of a portfolio of shared ownership properties is an endorsement of Sage Homes’ strategy.
“Several years ago, we started on a journey to attract increasing amounts of institutional investment and capital into the sector.
“For the last three years Sage has been the largest provider of new affordable homes in England and this investment proves our model, enabling continued growth and delivery of the homes that the country needs.”
Barclays acted as the lead financial advisor and Deutsche Bank as the financial advisor for Blackstone, Regis and Sage Homes on the deal. USS was advised by Evercore and Five Sigma Finance.