March 2012 Issue

It has long been recognised that housing is both an item of consumption and an asset. The difference may appear to be only of interest to an economist but it is critical in understanding why different European housing markets perform differently. Occupiers who regard their dwelling as items of consumption will only pay as much […]

Secondary retail has become the toxic sector for respondents to the latest Colliers/Real Estate Capital Pricing Survey. They reported yield rises for most secondary retail sub-sectors and expect rents and capital growth to fall more than previously expected this year and next. Meanwhile, there has been a positive shift in the relative value of industrial […]

UK market overview For the first time since July 2009, the JLL Balanced Fund Index fell in February, albeit by a marginal 0.06%, writes Ashley Marks. This follows almost flat 0.16% and 0.01% performance in December and January respectively. The index is up 2.42% in the past 12 months, or 2.03% taking into account secondary […]

Student housing specialist arranges new facilities and plans asset sales, writes Jane Roberts

Luxury London housing schemes still attract finance, but elsewhere it is tough, writes Jane Robert

Schroders believes investment in the affordable housing sector could provide the right level of returns for its Real Income Fund. The company has devised an investment model that teams up local authorities with land and funding from institutions to develop housing for key workers, such as teachers and nurses, which will be let at intermediate […]

The specialist in reworking prime leased central London assets has signed up two North American backers for its latest venture

Grainger has been a residential landlord for a century and its £2.4bn portfolio makes it the UK’s biggest private landlord. Previously it has bought regulated tenancies at below market rents or home reversions at a discount, so its UK business is underpinned by selling properties or redeveloping sites for sale when it gets vacant possession. […]

Agent has mandate to build 10,000-home UK portfolio for Swedish landlord, writes Alex Catalano

In the West Midlands, Evenbrook has negotiated a novel section 106 planning agreement with the local authority. “It’s a consent for 155 new flats to rent with no allocation for social housing,” says Evenbrook director John Coles. “Of these, 40 units will be let at intermediate rent –  80% of the market rate – for […]

East Village scheme aims to tap demand for homes to rent from Londoners priced out of centre

Figures show housing beats commercial property for both risks and returns, writes Alex Catalano

While other investors target rented housing, UK institutions remain wary, writes Alex Catalano

The many debt funds on the launch pad may need large resources to take off, writes Jane Roberts

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley look set to stick with real estate investment despite past losses and regulatory pressures. But, asks Lucy Scott, will investors still back the big-bank model? It is three years since the first signs emerged that all was not well for investment bank- backed private real estate businesses. Losses started multiplying […]

The confidence barometer has risen – a bit, and depending on whom you talked to at  MIPIM this year. In previous years, you could tell who was in or out of the market by whether they were down in Cannes, but these days it’s more complicated than that. There were lots of no-shows, but for […]

German landesbank HSH Nordbank, which has withdrawn from international lending, has sold the majority of its debt in a joint venture managed by student housing provider UNITE Group. UNITE chief financial officer Joe Lister said HSH had sold on £225m of the original £300m loan in UNITE Capital Cities, which is 70% owned by Singaporean […]

German banks Bayern LB and DekaBank are providing debt finance for US pension fund TIAA-CREF’s €400m acquisition of Munich’s Perlach Einkaufs Passagen (PEP) shopping centre. The pension fund bought the 650,000 sq ft, 30-year-old scheme in south-east Munich in December from RREEF, which  sold the asset for its Grundbesitz Europa open-ended fund. Grundbesitz Europa has […]

High Income Fund’s refinancing took more than six months to arrange

Austrian bank BAWAG has built up a property loan book worth around €900m since its launch 18 months ago. Jürgen Fenk, MD and head of international commercial real estate, said the bank was targeting deals ranging from €25m-€70m bilateral loans and participation in clubs, to lending  up to 75% loan-to-value levels for the right deal. Fenk […]

Nick Preston, a CBRE Global Investors senior UK director, will join Grosvenor Fund Management next month as director of portfolio management. Preston will be responsible for the performance of GFM’s six UK funds and mandates, reporting to UK MD Mervyn Howard. Grosvenor is winding up its Festival Place Fund and selling its sole asset, Basingstoke’s […]

Schroders Real Income Fund is targeting an 8.5% gross yield for investors from a joint venture with Local Shopping REIT. Schroders’ multi-manager clients, including those in the Real Income fund of funds, have invested £55m in Local Retail Fund. LSR has put £5m into the ungeared joint venture. Schroders’ head of property William Hill said […]

Forum Partners plans to start investing in non-performing Irish property loans. The real estate private equity firm hopes to achieve a deep discount on a €350m mixed portfolio of small loans being sold by Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency. Forum chief executive officer Russell Platt said: “The properties have been valued at €100m and the […]

L iberty Living secures £100m despite shorter track record than others that have tapped US market

Scottish housebuilder The Miller Group has this month completed a £160m refinancing led by Blackstone. Blackstone subsidiary GSO Capital is taking a controlling stake, diluting the Miller family’s previous 62%. Lloyds Banking Group’s former 20% stake, acquired via HBOS in 2008, is also diluted. Royal Bank of Scotland, Noble Grossart and senior executives are also […]

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) expects to lend at least €6bn on property this year after completing €6.3bn of business in 2011. The bank has restructured its origination team following Harin Thaker’s departure, appointing London-based Charles Balch as head of cross-border business, the UK and central Europe. Of the banks’s €6.3bn real estate lending in 2011, €2.8bn […]

Special servicer of defaulted CMBS loan auctions 3,000 German homes to private equity group Benson Elliot has bought a German housing portfolio in one of the first asset purchases from a defaulted German CMBS loan. The private equity group bought 3,000 TOR portfolio homes via a sale of the defaulted CMBS loan, directed by special […]

JER Partners’ European fund management business has finally completed its transfer to LaSalle Investment Management. LaSalle said the transfer covered 11 investments, with over 90 assets in two funds, thought to be the pan-European JER Europe Fund III and the Marbleton Property Fund, which raised €312m for investment in Ukraine and Russia in 2007. JER […]

Capital flows in and out of 65 UK funds were broadly flat and volumes were down at the end of last year. Association of Real Estate Fund figures for Q4 2011 recorded a small net outflow, of -£4.5m, slightly below the third quarter, when the net outflow was -£10m. “This is a result of less […]

BNP Paribas may use some of the cash it had earmarked for the acquisition of rival DTZ to buy an investment management business. A source said that following DTZ’s sale after a pre-pack administration to Australian engineering, asset management and property services firm UGL, BNP had cash available to build up BNP Paribas Real Estate […]

As EPISO reaches full investment, Ric Lewis could compete with former employer on new funds AEW Europe and Tristan Capital Partners could be competing to raise opportunity funds later this year. The two fund managers currently work together managing the European Property Investors Special Opportunities fund (EPISO), the second in a series which was launched […]

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing completed the acquisition of the Saturn portfolio of loans from NAMA last week. The portfolio, with a face value of around £220m, is believed to have been bought at a deep discount of 60-70%. MSREI did not disclose terms. MSREI’s EMEA head, Brian Niles, said he was “pleased” to be […]

The Kirsh Group completed the £283m acquisition of City land-mark Tower 42 last week with £145m of 20-year debt from Aviva Commercial Finance. The group’s chairman, Natie Kirsh, said: “Aviva has provided about 50% of the money on a 20-year facility, which supports our long-term investment philosophy as we grow our international property portfolio.” Several […]

Deal brings asset manager’s investment in UK debt in 2011 to €1bn

New £500m funds will offer investors choice of risk-adjusted returns through stretch-senior and mezzanine/preferred equity strategies