M&G still has ‘plenty of appetite’ for shared ownership despite slow growth, says senior executive

News of the deals has come two-and-a-half years since M&G launched into the shared ownership market with a major tie-up with G15 landlord Hyde.

M&G’s shared ownership fund is operated through its own for-profit registered provider, M&G UK Shared Ownership. 

The fund was launched with the backing of £215m investment from Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Local Government Pension Schemes, Homes England and two M&G client funds. 

The investment giant announced its intention to move into shared ownership in the summer of 2019.

“We’ve had to be patient as we’ve had concerns over the market, hence why our growth hasn’t been as quick as we would have liked it to be,” Mr Jeffs said.

And despite continued fears over the wider housing market, he claimed that the Midlands, the South West and East Anglia are areas that are “crying out for shared ownership”.

Under the new deals, M&G has extended its relationship with Hyde by striking a £23m agreement to buy 73 homes at the landlord’s 2,000-home Eastman Village development in Harrow, west London.

The investment giant has also struck what Mr Jeffs called a “hybrid” deal with HSPG, a property investment firm that owns for-profit registered provider Park Properties Housing Association.

Under the deal, HSPG will fund new development and manage sales of the properties, then M&G will acquire the retained equity.

It involves M&G paying £14.3m for 120 new build homes across 13 sites in the East Midlands and the South East. All the homes are expected to be completed this year.

Manchester-based Park Properties, which registered as a for-profit in 2018 and was acquired by HSPG in 2020, currently manages around 500 properties.

However David Cook, group investment director at HSPG, told Social Housing that it has a “fairly chunky pipeline” and is aiming to have up to 2,000 homes within the next five years.

In its third deal M&G is acquiring the retained equity in 168 homes across 23 sites owned by Essex-based landlord CHP. The homes consist of 126 houses and 42 flats built between 2017 and 2022. 

Under all three partnerships the registered providers will continue to manage the properties. 

Mr Jeffs added: “We’re always looking for new partnerships with the right kind of partner, but we are super selective – it has to be the right cultural fit.”