Civitas Social Housing acquires portfolio of supported living properties for £6.0m

Civitas Social Housing (CSH) has announced that it has completed the purchase of a portfolio of regulated social housing for a total consideration of £6.0 million, comprising the freehold interest in supported living properties, with 52 tenancies, in North East England. The acquisition was funded using the company’s existing cash resources. CSH says that the portfolio is immediately income generating with an initial net yield in line with its expectations and was sourced off-market by Civitas Housing Advisors (CHA) the Company’s Investment Manager. CSH says that, in due course, it intends to apply leverage, in accordance with its stated policy, and it is expected that this will further enhance the yield achieved from this investment.

CSH says that each property is subject to a 25-year lease with a specialist Housing Association, – Kindstream Housing CIC (Kindstream) – focused around supported living, with rents established by the relevant local authority and adjusted annually by inflation (CPI) over the full period. Kindstream is a Registered Provider, regulated by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and a counterparty to leases within the Company’s previous portfolios.

According to CSH, both properties in the portfolio have been adapted for use as specialist supported living homes for tenants with physical and/or mental disabilities or other care needs, and a care provider for each property is in place.

The social homes owned by Civitas are provided on a long-term basis to Housing Associations with a wide range of tenants who vary in age profile and in the level of support that each receives. CSH says that, by acquiring these social homes, and working with Housing Associations, it seeks for tenants to experience a stable, high-quality living environment that offers good visibility of tenure and further, it promotes “additionality” by the provision of new equity capital that has the potential to be redeployed in the delivery of new social homes. Civitas targets the objective of delivering sustainable returns to its shareholders by making socially relevant investments within the regulated social housing sector in England and Wales.

Civitas Social Housing acquires portfolio of supported living properties for £6.0m : CSH