Citra Living, part of Lloyds Banking Group, is to bring more than 150 new family homes to the rental market in Gloucestershire.
Citra, which owns and operates a portfolio of more than 2,000 homes across the UK, has acquired 156 new properties from the country’s largest housebuilder Barratt as part of a strategic partnership between the two. The homes are situated at Barratt Homes Bristol’s new Winnycroft Lane development in Matson, near Gloucester.
The portfolio acquired by Citra includes a mix of 2, 3 and 4-bedroom properties, with the first homes expected to be ready for families to move in this summer.
The Winnycroft homes 3.5 miles south of Gloucester are part of a wider housing development of up to 420 units.
Citra and Barratt Developments’ strategic partnership aims to bring forward new homes in the private rental sector more quickly.
Since announcing the partnership, Citra and Barratt have brought more than 1,500 homes across projects in Bedfordshire, Northumberland, Lancashire and the South West.
Andy Hutchinson, managing director of Citra Living, says “Gloucestershire continues to be an attractive location, in no small part thanks to the growing knowledge economy, transport links and access to both country and city living. Following a decade of growth and investment, it’s the perfect place for families to put down roots. Our long-standing partnership with Barratt has created a significant portfolio of high-quality homes – growing communities and delivering homes in places where people want to live. We look forward to welcoming our first customers to Winnycroft as we reach this latest milestone in the partnership which will pave the way for more new schemes in future.”
Steve Mariner, sales and marketing director at Barratt Developments, adds “Winnycroft is an excellent development that showcases our ongoing partnership with Citra really well. It brings new homes to the private rental sector in Gloucestershire where they join a thriving new community ready for people to move in this summer.”
The Attack On Buy-to-Llet Landlords By Build To Rent Cheerleader
Buy to let landlords have been savagely attacked by the country’s biggest investment company - which just happens to be a major player in the struggling Build To Rent sector.
Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) has slammed “unscrupulous” landlords over claims many are taking people’s money and “giving them a bad experience”.
Interviewed by the Daily Telegraph, Bill Hughes, global head of real assets at L&G, claims too many buy to let landlords have been “suboptimal and substandard”.
The Telegraph points out that Hughes is spearheading L&G’s push into the BTR industry.
In recent months the property industry’s biggest cheerleaders for Build To Rent - the British Property Federation and Savills, who jointly monitor and promote the sector - have complained about the slow planning system. In addition the BTR trade body has renamed itself as the more consumer-friendly ‘Association for Rental Living’, which has also created a code of practice which it claims already conforms with the provisions of the Renters Reform Bill going through Parliament.
L&G, which manages nearly £1.2 trillion of assets, has built a portfolio of 10,000 BTR homes in the least eight years, 5,000 of which are occupied, having spent £3 billion on the sector.
Hughes tells the newspaper “you have got owners of rental property who are not managing them well. Unscrupulous landlords who are taking people’s deposits and giving them a bad experience. We‘re here to reset standards of quality that renters should expect. That’s one of the things that institutional capital can do. You’re there at scale and very long-term and you know that your reputation matters so you’re not going to run the risk with it.”
On the L&G website Hughes is described as being “responsible for transforming its UK property fund management business into a global-reaching real assets platform.”
It also says he plays “an active role in several influential government and industry committees around ESG, infrastructure, regeneration and housing. He was appointed a UK Built Environment Climate Ambassador by the UK Green Building Council to mobilise the real estate industry at COP26 and champion the development of the Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap for the UK Built Environment.
“He is Chair of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA) which brings together the UK’s leading property bodies to give them a stronger collective voice on issues such as policy, research and best practice. Bill is a current Trustee of the UK Green Building Council and an Honorary Fellow of the College of Estate Management. He is a past Chair of the Green Property Alliance, a past President of the British Property Federation (BPF), past Chairman of the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) and was a Commissioner for the Lyons Housing Review.”