Vistry Group has signed an £819million deal with two businesses to provide nearly 3,000 mixed-tenure properties.
The Kent-based housebuilder revealed Leaf Living and Sage Homes, both backed by private equity giant Blackstone and property investor Regis Group, have agreed to buy 2,915 units between them.
Leaf Living will acquire 1,522 homes for use in the private rental sector, while Sage Homes will take 1,393 affordable houses for rent and shared ownership, the firm said.
Deal: Vistry Group revealed Leaf Living and Sage Homes, both backed by private equity giant Blackstone and property investor Regis Group, have agreed to buy 2,915 units between them
Vistry plans to start delivering these properties, which are based across 70 separate developments, later this year and complete the majority within the next two years.
It told investors that the sale was ‘one of the largest new build residential investment transactions on record’ and would help address the UK’s undersupply of housing.
The company expects to receive an initial payment of around £160million this year, with additional staged payments arriving across the development programme.
Vistry also said the deal represented ‘significant progress’ in its strategy to merge its housebuilding and Partnerships divisions in order to focus on providing social housing.
Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive of Vistry, said: ‘We have an excellent track record of working in partnership with Leaf and Sage to deliver new homes and I am extremely pleased to have reached agreement to grow these relationships through this exciting, market-leading opportunity.
‘Through our unique Partnerships model, Vistry is maintaining the momentum of delivery of much needed affordable housing across the UK.’
Initially announced in September, Vistry’s tie-up includes plans to cut the number of regional business units to 27 and impose about 200 redundancies.
It follows a challenging year for the UK’s housebuilding industry, which has seen sales impacted by weak mortgage availability and affordability following multiple interest rate hikes.
Problems have been aggravated by the end of the Help-To-Buy Scheme, tight planning laws, and former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s controversial mini-budget in September 2022.
About a fortnight ago, Vistry revealed its weekly sales rate since July had averaged 0.60 per outlet, compared to 0.64 in the equivalent period last year.
Alongside this, the firm warned that its annual adjusted pre-tax profits would be about £40million lower than previously expected due to selling more properties in its housebuilding arm at discounted prices and through pre-sale offers.
Vistry Group shares were 3 per cent higher at £7.56 on early Tuesday afternoon, making them one of the top ten risers on the mid-cap FTSE 250 Index.
