Gresham House buys 167 homes from Countryside

Private affordable housing investor Gresham House Resi LP has agreed a £40m deal with Vistry subsidiary Countryside Partnerships to forward-fund construction of a 167-home scheme in Chippenham, Wiltshire.

The forward funding deal will see the homes built out on the 340-home Langley Park development, for which Countryside is developing the remainder for private sale.

The deal between the investment fund and Countryside will see it take on 159 shared ownership homes built to an EPC A-rated standard, with construction due to start in the mid of the year, prior to completion from mid-2024 onward.

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Fund manager Gresham House has set up a series of firms under the “Resi” brand, including a listed investment trust and a ‘for profit’ registered provider, through which it is investing in affordable housing. The firm decided just over a year ago that it is expecting to double the value of its investment in managed housing assets from £700m to £1.4bn in the space of three years.

In December it bought nearly 500 homes from a Cornwall-based housing association, Ocean Housing, in a deal that enabled a 1,000-home development programme.

Gresham House said it has now invested in more than 2,150 shared ownership homes across ReSI LP and its separate listed investment trust counterpart, Residential Secure Income plc (LSE: RESI).

Narvinder Khossa, director of new business, housing at Gresham House said: “We’re pleased to continue a busy period of activity for ReSI LP with this deal, which will further strengthen the fund’s robust income streams and support the delivery of much needed, affordable housing”.