Investment Giant Puts £2B Into Building Housing
Dutch pension fund ABP has teamed up with CBRE Investment Management to invest €350M (£305M, $405M) in senior housing in the Netherlands, which will create 1,000 rental homes, half of which will be affordable.
The partnership means ABP, through its investment arm, APG Asset Management, has put €2.2B (£1.9B, $2.5B) into Dutch housing in the past two years as part of a wider push to invest £4B in the sector.
ABP is one of the world’s largest pension funds. It manages money for 3.1 million Dutch government and education employees and has €553B of assets under management, including more than €50B of property assets. It has committed to building more homes in the Netherlands to help ease the country’s housing crisis as well as make a return.
ABP has already teamed up twice with CBRE IM to invest in build-to-rent apartments, and the senior living partnership takes the total invested together to €1.25B. That capital will build more than 3,500 homes.
ABP has also invested just shy of €1B alongside Greystar in two deals to build BTR housing that will create about 3,200 apartments.
The senior housing that ABP and CBRE IM are building will be spread across the Netherlands and designed to be sustainable while providing amenities and community facilities.
“The Dutch housing market has faced a structural shortage for many years, intensified by demographic ageing and a declining supply. This calls for decisive action,” Bas Tiemstra, CBRE IM head of Continental Europe direct real estate strategies, said in a statement.
ABP’s investment in rented residential is targeting the middle market in terms of pricing because that is where there is the most need and thus the least risk.
“Leasing risk at the moment in this midmarket is virtually zero, because there is a waiting list for every property that is being delivered,” APG Asset Management Head of European Property Investments Robert-Jan Foortse told Bisnow in an interview last year.
“We’re focusing on the locations that are appealing now but that we also think will be appealing in 10 to 15 years’ time. We think we have limited the risks enough to accept the corresponding return.”
