Real Estate Equity – UK Community Housing

The UK Community Housing Strategy (the ‘Strategy’) is a real estate strategy that seeks to generate financial and social returns by investing in the UK affordable housing sector.

  • The strategy is actively managed and not managed in reference to a benchmark
  • Affordable homes are properties that are rented or sold at a discount to market rate
  • The public sector is not building enough affordable homes
  • The strategy develops housing stock that is predominantly leased to UK councils and housing associations
  • It is managed by a dedicated team of investment professionals with long-term experience in the sector

Approach

The UK has experienced a significant, long-term mismatch between supply and demand in the housing market. This has led to an affordability crisis, impacting households earning the median income and below. We estimate that the supply of completed affordable homes lags the demand by around 100,000 homes per year. By deploying institutional capital to address this shortage of affordable homes, we aim to generate attractive returns for investors and drive positive impact.

We believe affordable housing offers reliable long-term, diversifying returns and, because our leases are typically inflation indexed, a useful inflation hedge. Long leases ensure a very low volatility returns stream, and our main counterparties are A rated credits and above. There have been no Council or Housing Association defaults.

A shortage of affordable homes is more than a supply vs demand disequilibrium. It means instability and unsuitable living conditions for working people across the UK. Ensuring that more affordable homes are built addresses this shortage and creates a real positive impact. To maximise impact, we have implemented a transparent, quantifiable "Impact Framework” that all new opportunities are assessed and reported against.

The GPM Community Housing Strategy is managed from our London office, by an investment team with over 50 years of aggregated experience in the UK affordable housing sector. This deep sectoral knowledge is crucial to our sourcing and evaluation of potential developments.

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Investment Solutions

Man offers a comprehensive suite of investment solutions and formats that can be tailored and optimised to meet specific client needs. Our investment solutions offer optionality including: liquidity, control, investment restrictions, investor customisations and transparency.

UCITS
Alternative investment funds
US 40 ACT
Regional funds
Separate accounts
Advisory mandates
Managed accounts

Access to investment products and mandate solutions are subject applicable laws and regulations including selling restrictions and licensing requirements. Investment solutions listed above may not be compatible for all investment strategies and may be subject to minimum subscription requirements. Regional Funds: In additions to UCITS and AIFs registered across the EEA, a number of investment strategies are available in vehicles registered in Chile, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland.

Considerations

One should carefully consider the risks associated with investing, whether the strategy suits your investment requirements and whether you have sufficient resources to bear any losses which may result from an investment:

Market Risk – The Strategy faces risks attendant to changes in economic environments, changes in interest rates, instability in certain securities markets, changes in the relative valuations of its investments and changes in the availability of, and/or the general terms and conditions for, investment financing, among other factors – any one of which could adversely affect investment returns. In addition, major market disruptions could occur.  The value of your investment and the income from it may rise as well as fall and you may not get back the amount originally invested.

Counterparty Risk – Differing market standards for counterparty credit evaluation may expose the Strategy to the risk that a counterparty will not complete or settle a transaction in accordance with its terms and conditions because of a dispute over the terms of the contract (irrespective of whether bona fide), counterparty default, or inability to perform, causing the Strategy to suffer a loss.

Liquidity Risk - The Strategy may make investments or hold trading positions in markets that are volatile and which are illiquid. Timely and cost efficient sale of trading positions can be impaired by decreased trading volume and/or increased price volatility. Extreme market events including natural disasters, war and exceptional declines in liquidity following severe market events may occur.

Concentration Risk - The Strategy invests in a limited number of investments may be held which can increase the volatility of performance.

Single Region/Country Risk - The Strategy is a specialist country-specific Strategy or focuses on a particular geographic region, the investment carries greater risk than a more internationally diversified portfolio.

Tax Risk - This Strategy will seek to take a tax efficient position however tax risk exists in terms of potential underpayments, overpayments, tax penalties, and assessments and regulatory changes in tax law.

Political Risk - The Strategy may be subject to additional risks which include possible adverse political and economic developments, possible adoption of governmental restrictions which might adversely affect the payment of rent, principal, interest and other amounts to investors located outside the country where the property is located, whether from currency blockage or otherwise. In addition, political or social instability or diplomatic developments could affect investments in those countries. While the Firm will take these factors into consideration in making investment decisions for the Strategy, no assurance can be given that the Strategy will be able to avoid these risks.

Credit Risk - The Strategy may invest directly or indirectly in debt instruments. The debt instruments may be subject to the risk that the principal or interest of such instruments may not be paid.  It is possible that increased credit risk may prevent the investment objective from being achieved. Adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, or in general economic conditions, or both, or an unanticipated rise in interest rates, may impair the ability of the issuer to make payments of interest and principal. The inability (or perceived inability) of issuers to make timely payments of interest and principal may affect the value of securities held for the account.

General Lending Risks - To the extent that the Strategy engages in active lending transactions, it will be subject to risks associated with possible default by the borrower, insufficient collateral and legal and other costs incurred in collecting on a defaulted loan. The collectability of the Strategy’s loans depends on its borrowers’ ability to pay, which may be negatively impacted by an economic downturn or company’s reversals. Resulting losses may include lost principal and interest, decreased cash flow and increased collection costs. In addition, active lending by the Strategy may subject it to additional regulation, as well as possible adverse tax consequences, although the Manager may seek to adopt appropriate procedures to minimize such consequences.

Interest Rate Risk - The Strategy expects to invest in certain Loan Investments that may be subject to interest rate risk. When interest rates decline, the value of fixed-rate obligations can be expected to rise, and conversely when interest rates rise, the value of fixed-rate obligations can be expected to decline. In general, if prevailing interest rates fall significantly below the interest rates on any Loan Investment held by the Strategy, such Loan Investment is more likely to be the subject of prepayments than if prevailing rates remain at or above the rates borne by such Loan Investment.

Investment Objective and Trading Risks - There is no guarantee that in any time period the investment objective of the Strategy will be successful. Investors should be aware that the value of investments may fall as well as rise.

Operational Risk - Potential loss resulting from inadequate or failed systems, processes or policies.

Regulatory Risk - The value of the assets may be affected by uncertainties such as changes in applicable laws and regulations. Similarly, the counterparties with whom transactions may be effected for the Strategy may themselves be subject to evolving regulations and regulatory oversight, including bank recovery and resolution regimes. Therefore, the Strategy may be affected not only by changes in regulators to which it is itself subject but by changes in regulations which affect the counterparties with whom it trades.

Reputational Risk - There is the potential for negative publicity and reputational damage within the markets we operate with the counterparies we deal with which may impact the Manager's ability to deploy capital effectively.

Settlement Risk - Market practices in relation to the settlement of securities and other transactions and custody of assets may increase risk.There is also the possibility that a customer or counterparty to a transaction might fail to perform its contractual commitment. Any problems regarding settlement may affect the capital NAV and the liquidity of the vehicle.

Valuation risk - The value of investments will be appraised on a periodic basis however a valuation is only an estimate of value and is not a precise measure of realisable value. Ultimate realisation of the market value of an Investment depends to a great extent on economic and other conditions. Valuations do not necessarily represent the price at which a real estate investment would sell since definitive market prices of real estate investments can only be determined by negotiation between a willing buyer and seller. In addition, the Manager may rely on a limited number of sources or even a single source of information for pricing the investments in connection with the calculation of capital NAV.