Inspired appoints Lacey Capital Partners to find BTR funding partner for U.K. projects
Inspired Asset Management has appointed Lacey Capital Partners to source a build-to-rent (BTR) funding partner.
Lacey Capital Partners has been asked to secure funding for an initial six assets comprising 835 units with a combined GDV of £175 million ($230 million). These assets are either already under construction or will be by fourth quarter 2018, and include a mixture of co-Living studios, micro-apartments and standard-sized PRS (private-rented sector) apartments located in the South East, Midlands and North West. Inspired also has a potential pipeline of circa 1,000 units, which it plans to add to the portfolio over the next few years.
Inspired’s BTR strategy is to reposition existing income-producing and vacant buildings, such as older student blocks, hostels and offices, and introduce new development as the portfolio becomes more established. Inspired will continue to focus on micro-living schemes including compact living (self-contained smaller homes), shared living (house/ flat shares) and co-living (managed purpose-built developments with shared amenity space).
Martin Skinner, Inspired’s founder and chief executive, has long been an advocate of micro-living, appearing in an ITV London News feature on micro-apartments last year and recently helping the BPF to come up with new industry-recognized definitions. He was also non-executive chairman of co-living specialist The Collective between 2010 and 2013.
Inspired purchased its debut co-living scheme in June, a development in Wolverhampton comprising 294 studios with shared social spaces.
“We have proved that micro-living schemes can deliver the higher yields demanded by institutional investors whilst providing high-quality rental accommodation that is affordable,” said Skinner. “Investment activity in student accommodation has increased significantly over the last 10 years, but the market has reached saturation in many locations. There remains huge demand from non-students for professionally managed accommodation with shared social spaces and all-inclusive lifestyle services, which is why we have an ambitious plan to create a £2 billion [$2.6 billion] portfolio and the world’s first co-living REIT.”
