For-profit registered provider Legal & General Affordable Homes (LGAH) has acquired 390 shared ownership homes from Orbit Group for almost £35m.
Legal & General said the acquisition forms part of its “ambitions to increase its investment into the affordable housing sector” and has been funded by its institutional retirement division.
The properties are spread across 32 local authorities, covering the Home Counties, the East and West Midlands, and Norfolk.
LGAH currently operates nearly 5,000 homes, with 2,000 in development. It is aiming to have delivered 10,000 homes by 2027.
Ben Denton, chief executive of LGAH, said: “Through this acquisition, we are not only providing another crucial affordable housing option, we are acquiring good-quality housing stock, creating assets for institutional retirement in order to achieve improved risk-adjusted returns for Legal & General’s shareholders.”
LGAH registered as a for-profit with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in late 2018. In February last year, it
became the first for-profit to gain compliant grades from the RSH.
Legal & General owns four other registered providers, but they have yet to be assessed by the RSH.
For Orbit, it is the latest in a series of deals where it has offloaded stock.
Last November, the group sold 1,368 individual retirement properties to specialist operator ELM Group for an undisclosed sum. Orbit has also sold homes to Notting Hill Genesis and PA Housing since March 2022.
Jonathan Wallbank, group finance director at Orbit, said that the latest deal with L&G is part of its strategy to “increase geographical efficiencies and to improve customer satisfaction, value for money and services for customers”.
The 47,000-home landlord – which manages homes across the Midlands, the East of England and the South East of England – is aiming to deliver more than 5,700 mixed-tenure new homes and regeneration properties between 2024 and 2030, Mr Wallbank added.
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