Scandal-hit social housing investor Home REIT said it had offloaded another £36.9m worth of property today as it scrambles to clear its debts before winding down.
In a statement to the markets, the former FTSE 250 firm said it had sold 200 houses at a series of public auctions last week as part of efforts to offload its entire portfolio before closing. The latest chunk of houses made up around 15 per cent of its remaining property by value, Home REIT said.
Since August last year, the firm has now completed on the sale of 1,208 properties and exchanged on a further 293 at dramatically cut prices.
The rapid sales form part of a “managed wind-down” strategy for the firm, which has been rocked by crisis after a damning short report from short seller Viceroy Research two years ago.
Since the start of 2023, the firm’s shares have been suspended and it has faced a probe from the Financial Conduct Authority. City A.M. has also revealed Serious Fraud Office officials are probing the company, though the regulator is yet to announce or confirm the investigation.
Last year, the firm cut the paper value of its housing by more than half after accepting its houses were well below the standard it had thought when it bought them. It has since been selling off the properties at auction to raise cash and pay off its debts.
Home REIT is £106m in debt to Scottish Widows, though this has been reduced from £220m in August 2023, and is expected to be cut further after the latest property sales.
Debts include £7.3m in unpaid borrowing fees charged since August 2023, along with around £5m in legal fees spent due to “threatened litigation from current and past shareholders“, bosses said earlier this year.
Shareholders gave the greenlight to the plans to close the firm earlier this month.
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