Residential Secure Income forms partnership with Morgan Sindall

Social housing asset investor Residential Secure Income (ReSI) announced on Tuesday that its fund manager, ReSI Capital Management (RCM), has entered into a new housing investment partnership agreement with Morgan Sindall Investments.

The London-listed firm said the agreement aimed to increase the supply of shared ownership homes, enabling more first-time buyers in the UK to establish themselves on the housing ladder.

It said the housing investment partnership created an exclusive arrangement between RCM and MSI to provide access to a pipeline of institutional-quality residential investment opportunities for its long-term capital, by utilising the expertise in social infrastructure and housing development of MSI and its other partners.

The partnership would initially target the delivery of 1,500 shared ownership homes, with a value of up to £300m.

ReSI noted that it made its first investment in shared ownership residential in October last year, when it acquired a £16.5m portfolio of 34 homes from Crest Nicholson, having become the first publicly-listed investment fund, through its subsidiary ReSI Housing, to become a registered provider with the Regulator of Social Housing in July.

Having fully invested the proceeds of its IPO, ReSI said it intended to invest through the housing investment partnership using proceeds from investment-grade debt secured against its wider £240m residential portfolio of around 2,500 mixed tenure homes.

“[The housing investment partnership] highlights MSI's strong investment credentials and our ability to deploy large volumes of institutional capital into the residential market across our regeneration pipeline,” said Morgan Sindall Investments managing director Lisa Scenna.

“Our partners will benefit from this initiative as HIP will significantly lower the barriers to homeownership and will benefit people who live in the communities where we work.”

Jonathan Slater, chief executive of ReSI Capital Management, added that the new partnership with Morgan Sindall Investments was a further extension of its strategy to facilitate the supply of new homes in the UK, and enable more first time buyers to get a foot on the housing ladder through shared ownership, while at the same time delivering a secure, long term income stream to shareholders.

“This new agreement ensures a strong pipeline of units for ReSI to continue its investment programme in shared ownership through ReSI's registered provider of social housing, ReSI Housing, and further emphasises our ability to work with leading housing partners.”