Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has committed an initial £500m (€600m) to a newly established UK single-family rental housing investment venture formed in partnership with Kennedy Wilson.
The C$647bn (€434bn) Canadian fund will hold a 90% interest in the venture, while Kennedy Wilson will commit £56m to become a 10% shareholder and will target new-build housing stock.
The partnership – with an initial target asset value of approximately £1bn including leverage – has been seeded with properties from two developments sourced by Kennedy Wilson. The seed assets comprise units currently under construction by Barratt Redrow in Norwich.
Kennedy Wilson, which will manage the venture and earn fees, has a pipeline of investment opportunities valued at over £360m and comprising 1,100 units. The company has the capacity to expand this pipeline to reach 4,000 units upon full capital deployment.
Tom Jackson, head of real estate for Europe at CPP Investments, said: “Private capital can play an important role in addressing the current undersupply of high-quality rental housing in the UK, particularly where it is professionally managed to provide a great customer experience.
“Investing into the UK single-family housing sector aligns well with our broader real estate strategy, to undertake scalable investments into high quality assets with growing cash flows.”
Mike Pegler, president of Kennedy Wilson Europe, said: “The structural challenges facing institutionally managed rental housing in the UK provides a clear investment rationale to enter the market and leverage our deep experience in the sector.
“We are actively seeking opportunities to grow our portfolio, which offers substantial scalability potential in the UK, driving consistent risk adjusted returns in this high-conviction subsector.”
Earlier today, CPP Investments issued a press release stating it is partnering with Kennedy Wilson to launch a new UK single-family rental housing joint venture targeting £1 billion in real estate:
London, United Kingdom. (October 24, 2024)– Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has partnered with global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson (NYSE:KW) to launch a new single-family rental housing joint venture (“the JV”) in the United Kingdom. CPP Investments will initially commit £500 million, with Kennedy Wilson committing £56 million. The JV will have an initial target of approximately £1 billion of asset value, including leverage, with the potential to commit further capital depending on market opportunities. CPP Investments will hold 90% of the venture and Kennedy Wilson will hold a 10% ownership interest moving forward.
Through partnerships with housebuilders, the JV will target energy efficient, new-build housing stock in strong and growing local economies that offer residents excellent connectivity, attractive local amenities, and proximity to strong employment prospects and educational institutions.
The investment program is seeded with properties from two developments sourced by Kennedy Wilson, including units under construction by Barratt Redrow in Norwich, where Kennedy Wilson is now leasing up the first phase of completed homes, and units by Miller Homes in Stevenage, which will deliver completed houses from Q2 2025. Kennedy Wilson has an active pipeline of opportunities totaling over £360 million and 1,100 units, with the capacity to reach 4,000 units at full capital deployment.
“Private capital can play an important role in addressing the current undersupply of high-quality rental housing in the UK, particularly where it is professionally managed to provide a great customer experience,” said Tom Jackson, Head of Real Estate Europe at CPP Investments. “Investing into the UK single-family housing sector aligns well with our broader real estate strategy, to undertake scalable investments into high quality assets with growing cash flows. We look forward to launching the JV alongside Kennedy Wilson to deliver strong returns for 22 million contributors and beneficiaries of the CPP fund.”
Kennedy Wilson will manage the JV and earn customary fees, leveraging its expertise as a long-term owner, operator, and debt provider for rental housing with more than 60,000 units owned or financed by Kennedy Wilson managed platforms across the United States, the UK, and Ireland. The company’s established global residential platform comprises a vertically integrated investment, asset management, and development team, and operating and reporting systems.
“Residential has long been a crucial part of Kennedy Wilson’s investment strategy, and our JV with CPP Investments, a leading global institutional investor, will propel our efforts to deliver much-needed rental homes for local families,” said Mike Pegler, President, Kennedy Wilson Europe. “The structural challenges facing institutionally managed rental housing in the UK provides a clear investment rationale to enter the market and leverage our deep experience in the sector. We are actively seeking opportunities to grow our portfolio, which offers substantial scalability potential in the UK, driving consistent risk adjusted returns in this high-conviction subsector.”
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At June 30, 2024, the Fund totalled C$646.8 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.About Kennedy Wilson
Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW) is a leading real estate investment company with over $27 billion of assets under management in high growth markets across the United States, the UK and Ireland. Drawing on decades of experience, our relationship-oriented team excels at identifying opportunities and building value through market cycles, closing more than $50 billion in total transactions across the property spectrum since going public in 2009. Kennedy Wilson owns, operates, and builds real estate within our high-quality, core real estate portfolio and through our investment management platform, where we target opportunistic investments alongside our partners. For further information, please visit www.kennedywilson.com.
This is a huge joint venture for CPP Investments with Kennedy Wilson, a publicly traded company that operates and invests in real estate both on its own and through its investment management platform, focusing on multifamily and office properties located in the Western United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Japan.
The company manages 27 billion of assets under management and is a perfect partner for CPP Investments on this strategic joint venture in the UK.
It's worth noting what Tom Jackson, Head of Real Estate Europe at CPP
Investments states in the press release:
“Private capital can play an important role in addressing the current undersupply of high-quality rental housing in the UK, particularly where it is professionally managed to provide a great customer experience. Investing into the UK single-family housing sector aligns well with our broader real estate strategy, to undertake scalable investments into high quality assets with growing cash flows. We look forward to launching the JV alongside Kennedy Wilson to deliver strong returns for 22 million contributors and beneficiaries of the CPP fund.”
Like many other markets, there is a lack of supply of professionally managed, high-quality rental housing in the UK and they see an opportunity to address this market.
The JV will have an initial target of approximately £1 billion of asset value, including leverage, with the potential to commit further capital depending on market opportunities.
Now recall, CPP Investments and GIC recently signed an agreement with Equinix for a $15 billion joint venture to build US data center infrastructure.
When you hear people say "CPP Investments is to big, too slow" clearly they don't have a clue of what they're talking about because they use their size, brand, reputation and global presence to find the right strategic partners to develop joint ventures they can scale.
The other thing I will mention on this deal is the fundamentals for UK single-family housing sector are extremely strong.
According to Savills UK (2023):
Single Family Housing (SFH) is redefining rental living. In the year to September 2023, SFH has already attracted a record £1 billion of investment and investors we surveyed aim to commit more than £25 billion to the sector over the next five to ten years.
You can read the full report here and see conclusions below:
In 2022, Say property also put out an interesting comment on the UK single-family housing sector:
Single Family Housing (SFH) is becoming one of the UK’s fastest-growing asset classes, with several prominent industry names announcing their entrance into the sector. At SAY, we have seen a huge upturn in interest in Single Family Housing but what exactly is Single Family Housing and what should those looking to enter the market consider?
SFH provides high-quality rental accommodation in suburban areas. The schemes usually comprise two to four-bedroom houses or low-rise apartments and are usually part of a wider mixed-use development, creating communities close to public transport, schools and areas of employment. Unlike urban Build to Rent (BTR), SFH schemes usually have minimal onsite amenities including a limited onsite staff presence.
The current suburban rental market is almost entirely supplied through traditional Buy to Let (BTL) properties, opening up a market opportunity for institutional investment. Around 60% of Private Rented Sector (PRS) households are based in suburban areas, with most of these households residing in houses, not apartments.The pandemic and the increase in hybrid working has encouraged people to reassess their living arrangements. Many renters are looking to suburban areas for more space, a home office or study, gardens, and outdoor space.
The changes to the Help to Buy scheme which saw regional price caps introduced and restrictions to first-time buyers, also provides an opportunity with Single Family Housing helping to replace the demand for stock when these changes come into place.
This demand in the market is supported by current portfolios already in a steady state. In January 2021, BTR News reported on Gate House announcing the sale of its Thistles Portfolio to Goldman Sachs. The portfolio was at 99.8% occupancy with rental collection rates around 98% consistently.
There are several operational benefits associated with SFH. Firstly, longer tenancies and fewer voids are attainable whereby families living in SFH are less transient as they are tied to the property where their children have secured a place at the local school. As there are fewer onsite amenities and onsite staff, these schemes generally have a lower gross to net leakage than urban BTR schemes.
Utilising modern methods of construction such as modular, helps to speed up the return on investment and permits investors to deliver standardisation across the product specification. Furthermore, modular construction can allow for projects to be delivered quickly and can help contribute to ESG objectives whilst constructing lower carbon homes.
Read more here but clearly this sector has room to grow and CPP Investments picked the right time and partner to get into it.
Lastly, this recent blog comment from Build-Zone on the growth of FSH in the UK is also worth reading:
Although this shift is still at an early stage compared to the US—where large-scale institutional investors make up as much as 50% of the market—the UK’s rental landscape differs notably. Unlike the US, which primarily features multifamily homes managed by large operators, the UK’s private rental sector is more varied, predominantly single-family homes.
Alright, let me end it there and just say Sophie van Oosterom is joining CPP Investments to head up Real Estate at the right time.
Below, experts in Britain are warning that a generation of young people may never be able to own their own homes because of a grave housing crisis. There is a shortfall of over four million homes and it is now a hot political issue. Pressure is growing to start building in England's rolling countryside where construction has been outlawed for decades. PBS News Hour Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports (2023).
Also, a MoveIQ interview discussing how built to rent are popping up all over the place in the UK and delivering a different type of rental option to our varied housing stock, but it's not just about apartments in town and cities, family homes available to rent this way too and many more are being built.
Lastly, Garrington Property's latest comprehensive review of the UK property market following the election and formation of a new government.