Vistry to ramp up new housing by more than 10 per cent

Vistry Group has announced plans to deliver around 1,750 new homes in the South East of England, with a gross development value of £580 million.

The portfolio will be managed by property developer Leaf Living, backed by funding managed by Blackstone Real Estate investors and private equity investors, Regis Group.  

In November last year, Vistry landed a “record” new build residential investment deal with Leaf Living and Sage Homes worth £819 million to deliver more than 2,900 properties across 70 developments.  

The 1,750 homes will be built across 36 developments which are largely plots from Vistry’s former Housebuilding landbank. 

Last year, the FTSE 250 company announced a major business restructure merging its Housebuilding and Partnerships operations, resulting in hundreds of staff being let go. 

It said the new properties will be pre-sold in line with its Partnerships strategy of pre-selling 65 per cent of all homes across the business, driving towards its medium-term financial targets.   

Vistry is currently on track to deliver a more than 10 per cent increase in new home completions this year. 

The first completions are expected by the end of June this year, with most of the portfolio scheduled to complete within the next two years. 

Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive at Vistry, said: “By working in partnership with organisations like Leaf Living we can maximise the number of high-quality homes we deliver every year.   

“This agreement supports our differentiated business model, with the certainty provided by the pre-selling of homes enabling us to accelerate our build programmes, guarantee work for our supply chain, reduce sales and build costs and create vibrant new communities.   

“This year we are on track to deliver more than a 10 per cent increase in new home completions, playing a key part in helping to address the UK’s acute housing shortage.” 

James Seppala, head of European real estate at Blackstone, added: “Institutional private capital can play an important role in providing high-quality housing stock across the UK, particularly in the private rented sector which is significantly undersupplied today.” 

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