A new equity funder set to pour £900m of global finance
into social housing in the UK has completed its first deal – providing £8.5m of
funding to build 80 new council homes. Cheyne Capital has launched a Social
Property Investment Fund comprising cash from global pension funds and high net
worth individuals. It announced its first deal, purchasing and developing a
site to build 80 flats, which Luton Council will rent for 21 years, receiving
full nomination rights. All of the homes will be for a ‘genuinely affordable
rent’, agreed with Luton Council below Local Housing Allowance levels, and are
built with no government grant. The deal marks one of the first direct major
investments in the sector from a group of global equity investors. Read more on
the Luton Council website.
Young people
should be allowed to dip into their pensions so they can afford to get on the
housing ladder, the housing secretary James Brokenshire has said. Speaking at
an event hosted by the think tank Policy Exchange, Mr Brokenshire said the
country needed to look at allowing people to use some of their pension pot as a
deposit to buy their first homes. He said: “It seems rather obtuse that we
would deny people the opportunity to do this, given that we know those who own
their own home by retirement are on average wealthier and do not have the
burden of the largest expense in retirement – accommodation.” Read more on
Inside Housing.
