Greykite European Real Estate Fund I and Gatehouse Investment Management have formed a £750M joint venture to invest in purpose-built single-family rental homes across the UK and have acquired an initial seed portfolio across 11 sites.

The locations are across the Midlands, Yorkshire and the north-east and are all from housebuilder Persimmon Homes. The portfolio will be asset-managed by minority partner and living sector investment platform Gatehouse Investment Management, with Ascend as the property manager.

The JV said it will seek to partner with a range of housebuilders, including Persimmon, to deploy circa £750M to create a portfolio of around 2,500 newly built SFR homes. It will focus on “critically undersupplied strategic regional locations” that have strong economic, demographic and employment drivers, the companies added.

The JV has secured exclusivity on several additional sites and is targeting purchase commitments of more than £200M by the end of the year.

The transaction follows the formal launch of Greykite and its investment fund in March and its debut investment in the Polish logistics sector, which completed in September.

It also follows the announcement by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board that it had partnered with Kennedy Wilson in another major investment into the UK’s nascent single-family rental sector.

CPP Investments said it would initially commit £500M to the new joint venture, with Kennedy Wilson committing £56M. The JV will have an initial target of approximately £1B of asset value, including leverage, with the potential for further investment depending on market opportunities, the companies said.

“The UK SFR sector benefits from a number of compelling demand fundamentals, and continues to be characterised by a chronic undersupply of purpose-built stock,” Greykite founder and CEO Michael Abel said in a statement.