This week is an extremely important one for the team at Rentplus. We have received a significant new injection of funding which will help us expand our delivery of affordable rent-to-buy homes across the UK.
The investment has come via a delivery finance facility from Crestline Investors, a credit-focused institutional alternative asset management firm. We have agreed to initial funding of £20 million, available to be drawn down over the next two years, with an option for a further £20 million.
This adds to the £70 million of investment already secured from BAE Systems Pension Funds Investment Management earlier this year.
The Crestline Investors funding will be used to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing across the UK. We are already in contract to deliver homes in Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Northants, Devon, Somerset, South Hams, Sedgemoor, Plymouth and Bicester by March next year. Our homes will generate significant inward investment for communities and provide much needed affordable homes to residents in these areas. The arrival of Rentplus homes reduces local authority waiting lists and allows tenants to set down roots and make real contributions to their communities because they are able to rent and then buy their home. Rentplus facilitates this migration to home ownership whilst providing security of tenure during the rental period.
As house prices continue to rise and deposits remain a barrier to home ownership, we are seeing significant interest from potential tenants, housing associations and local authorities who want Rentplus homes in their area.
This fresh funding is evidence of the belief in both our business model and our ability to deliver new, affordable homes, providing an alternative route to home ownership. With this additional funding, we remain confident that we will meet or exceed our goal of 5,000 new homes by 2020, providing part of the solution to the UK’s housing crisis.
Richard Connolly, CEO of Rentplus