Two BTR developments snapped up in £50m deal

Savills Investment Management has acquired two forward-funded residential sites for £50m.

The first site at Houlton, Rugby totals 149 homes and is part of a broader masterplan to deliver 5,950 new homes alongside four new schools. There will also be 40 acres of green open space, as well as more than 700 trees planted in the first phase of the scheme. 

Its second purchase is Alconbury Weald in Cambridgeshire, which comprises 49 residential units as a mix of single-family and flats and is part of a broader scheme set to deliver 6,500 new homes alongside parks, play areas and more than 200 acres of woodland and green space. 

The schemes, developed by Urban & Civic, are the first acquisitions in Savills IM’s BTR portfolio, following the acquisition of Pitmore, the UK Development and BTR specialist, in August 2022.

Savills says that Alconbury id regarded as an “exemplar for new sustainable development” and is a Homes England flagship site. The 49 homes developed will all be EV charging ‘ready’ and include smart home technologies to allow the control and monitoring of energy usage. 

Jon Crossfield, head of living at Savills IM said: “We are delighted to have acquired these two sites, both at attractive prices against the backdrop of the single-family forward funding market.

“The schemes at Rugby and Alconbury will form a high-quality core of our build-to-rent portfolio, with strong demand fundamentals, providing resilience against market downturns due to the defensive nature of the sector.

“The fact that both transactions were sourced off-market further illustrate our team’s in-depth knowledge of the sector, especially with the addition of the Pitmore team, who have brought a wealth of experience and a high-quality client base.”

Savills Investment Management worked with Brotherton to procure development finance from Bank Leumi.