January 2025– Long Harbour, the investment manager and specialist in operational real estate, has secured a £300m equity commitment from South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) for its Single Family Housing Fund. CBRE advised Long Harbour on the capital raise, further strengthening the successful fundraising partnership that began in 2018.

This marks the close for the fund’s seed round which will allow Long Harbour to execute an initial deployment target of up to £600million of single family housing assets from 2025, with the next close expected within 2025 for other suitable investors. The fund will be acquiring forward funding, forward purchase and standing stock opportunities in the first instance, targeting new-build family homes across the UK, with a focus on the South and South East of England. All units will be delivered to Part L Building Regulations and an EPC rating of B or better.

The new fund builds on the success of Long Harbour’s prior and existing living strategies in both single and multifamily. With a long standing and successful track record, Long Harbour first invested in single family in 2013, particularly notable was a large portfolio of single family housing in the South East, acquired in 2015. Most recently Long Harbour has built a £900m multifamily JV which is now  the leading platform for institutional investment into UK Build to Rent housing, delivering quality assets, industry-leading operations and strong returns. Long Harbour is excited to expand its single family platform, continuing to provide expertise in investment management and over ten years of experience in operational real estate to the nascent Single Family Housing market.  

According to the English Housing Survey[1], the net number of private rental sector (PRS) homes has shrunk by 81,000 since 2016/17 while demand for rental properties increased by 51%, underlining the urgent need for more high quality rental homes.

The fund is headed up by Managing Director Jack Spearman who joined Long Harbour in 2009 and led the origination and execution team for Long Harbour’s UK residential secured income programme, building an unrivalled origination network that can now be leveraged effectively for the Single Family Housing fund.

Minister for Investment Baroness Gustafsson OBE said: “Increasing investment is a mission at the heart of this government, so it’s a massive vote of confidence in the UK economy that NPS have committed £300m into Long Harbour’s UK single family fund."

“Investment into the UK housing market is at the centre of this government’s plans to build 1.5 million homes and we will continue to support the capital needed to make those plans a reality.”

William Astor, Chief Executive at Long Harbour, said: “With over a decade of experience of investing and managing single family housing, we have delivered outstanding returns for our investors from this asset class. Our successful exit from previous single family assets in 2022 marked a significant milestone, and we are excited to launch our latest dedicated single family housing fund at this opportune moment.”

“We are particularly pleased to have secured this funding agreement with such a prominent global investment partner as NPS, who recognise Long Harbour’s track record and commitment to growing our single family housing portfolio, and the value of this asset class.”

Jack Spearman, Managing Director at Long Harbour, said: “Our ambition through the launch of this fund is to address the undersupply of high quality, energy efficient and modern, suburban housing in the UK. Currently, three million UK rental households live in low quality, poorly managed suburban homes. There needs to be better rental options for those who cannot afford to buy or choose to rent. We look forward to playing a role in helping to meet this need and to assist the Government with its target to build 1.5million homes over the next five years.”

David Yoon, Portfolio Manager at NPS said: “Our investment in the creation of a platform, designed specifically to deliver new and sustainable single family homes in the UK, will assist in addressing the chronic undersupply of high-quality homes across the country.  We intend to generate significant benefits for both housing providers and prospective tenants, while providing stable and long-term returns.”

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[1]Colliers, April 2023

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