South London property consultancy brokers multi-million Southwark deal

South London property consultancy Henshall & Partners has overseen the acquisition of six affordable homes, in a deal worth £1.45m by local Southwark provider Wandle Housing.

The purchase of the new-build homes will allow Wandle to release “much-needed” affordable homes in Q1 2023, with the provider looking to source significant completed stock to meet growing demand.

The subject scheme is a development site Henshall & Partners first sold to Featherstone Homes and comprises 19 apartments in total, which included six allocated affordable homes, with a range of one, two and three bed units available.

The Henshall & Partners team then sourced a suitable affordable partner in Wandle Housing to acquire the six affordable units and add them to their managed portfolio.

Chris Henshall, managing director of Henshall & Partners, commented: “This affordable acquisition in Southwark is part of a real trend developing, with housing providers looking to acquire turnkey homes to enable them to service demand faster.

“We have also made introductions to developers to establish partnerships that will allow them to secure providers pre-construction, providing more confidence in delivering consented sites.

“It is vital that the affordable homes targets set by the government are met and we’re proud to be using our contacts and experience to help providers meet the increasing demand.”

The deal comes following a recent Government initiative, backed by an £8.6bn investment of public funds, to aid the construction of 120,000 affordable homes. Insurance provider Legal & General has also recently announced a £150m social loan scheme to finance the delivery of 5,500 affordable units across England.

The investment programme has led to a growing trend, which has been identified by Henshall & Partners following a sharp increase in enquiries from affordable housing providers looking to source and acquire suitable schemes to increase their portfolios.

This deal also comes on the back of a recent boom in the sector, with over £1bn worth of transactions of this type in the past 12 months.

Whilst this trend is growing across the UK, current hotspots include London, Bristol and Milton Keynes, with Henshall & Partners currently identifying multiple opportunities for developers and affordable housing providers across their core South London markets.

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily