Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors and CBRE Global Investment Partners (CBRE GIP) have formed a joint venture with Belgian real estate developer ION to invest €280 million in affordable new-build houses and apartments for the rental market.
Bouwinvest and CBRE GIP, on behalf of one of its clients, will be equal investment partners while ION will take a minority interest and act as service provider.
Bouwinvest said the joint venture’s initial investment capacity of €280 million is expected to increase over time.
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ION Residential Platform (IRP) will be the very first unlisted institutional housing platform in Belgium and is to focus primarily on the largest urban areas in the country. Projects will be sourced from ION’s development pipeline and will also be supplemented with acquisitions from other developers. The platform plans to make a number of purchases in the coming months.
”Affordable housing as an asset class offers an interesting opportunity to create value in both financial and social terms. The fundamentals for this investment are strong due to ongoing urbanisation and a growing housing shortage in urban areas. We are keen to expand our investments in this segment given the sustained demand and lower risk level and are excited to pursue this particular strategy together with ION and CBRE GIP,” said Jasper Petit, Senior Portfolio Manager European Investments, Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors.
”The launch of this joint venture is a next step in the development of ION, as an investor-developer. We believe in the Belgian rental market and have the ambition of achieving significant growth,” said Davy Demuynck and Kristof Vanfleteren, co-CEO’s of ION.
“We are very proud of the creation of this joint venture. We are convinced that the combination of Bouwinvest and CBRE GIP’s global residential investment experience combined with ION’s pipeline, sustainability knowledge and local expertise will lead to wonderful results. The Belgian residential investment market is very interesting and this step gives a further boost to the market,” added Casper van Grieken, Head of CBRE Capital Advisors Netherlands.
