Gatehouse Living Group has sold the UK PRS single-family rental platform to Citra Living, part of Lloyds Banking Group.
The platform is the second to be created, stabilised and exited by the group – following its sale of the Thistle Portfolio in 2021 – establishing a new benchmark for the sector.
Under the terms of the deal, property and leasing management will continue to be undertaken by Ascend, the UK’s largest third-party operator of SFR, which oversees around two thirds of the entire UK asset class.
Launched in 2018 in partnership with a leading sovereign wealth fund, the stabilised portfolio incorporates 821 two-, three- and four-bedroom homes across ten residential sites in the West Midlands, Merseyside and Greater Manchester regions, operated under the DifRent brand.
Gatehouse Living Group is a vertically integrated residential real estate investment and management platform, comprising Gatehouse Investment Management and property manager Ascend. It holds a unique full-service market position and unrivalled track record, with Gatehouse IM having created four institutional SFR platforms and Ascend managing over 10,000 rental homes nationwide.
Paul Stockwell, Group Managing Director of Gatehouse Living Group, said: “This portfolio, delivered in partnership with a leading sovereign wealth fund, is the second SFR platform Gatehouse Living Group has created, stabilised and exited, establishing another benchmark transaction for the sector. The performance of this portfolio is testament to our vertically-integrated approach – incorporating investment, asset and property management expertise – which has to date delivered over 4,000 homes across a number of portfolios. The continuation of the management mandate with Ascend, the UK’s largest third-party operator of SFR, underlines the group’s market-leading capabilities.
“Over the past decade we have seen SFR become an increasingly important pillar of the UK’s housing mix, enabling the development of greater numbers of homes nationwide. We look forward to working with our capital partners on further opportunities to deliver and stabilise much-needed rental homes that truly provide residents with the quality and security of tenure they need.”
