Barwood Capital Launches Pioneering Residential Investment Platform

A Platform That Invests in Small and High Quality Residential Development

Barwood Capital has launched a new and innovative way for investors to access value in the UK’s regional property market with ambitious plans to fund the development of more than 250 high quality new homes per annum.

The Barwood Residential Investment Platform will target investor returns of 25% on equity invested and is anticipated to deliver 12-15% IRR per annum over a typical two year period. The platform has been masterminded by Steve Chambers, a director at Barwood Capital. Steve has operated in the new home development market for more than 30 years and saw the opportunity to provide investors with a simple way to access strong returns from a range of selective regional residential developments.

Potential investors are able to register on the platform at any time and are then invited to invest in a “package” in each funding round which will acquire and develop at least three geographically spread new homes’ sites. The minimum investment is £250,000 per package and a number of packages will be raised each year. The sites will be in locations which are underpinned by robust demand and a shortage of appropriate stock.

A soft launch of the platform was completed during the summer with the first package having been released to registered investors in September which was oversubscribed and raised nearly £5 million.

Barwood Capital has established and will manage the platform. It will maintain an extensive and strong network of approved development partners across the UK to source and undertake the individual developments. The local development partners are a constant source of new opportunities and provide excellent local knowledge of their markets.

The first site, a high quality eight home development in New Malden, Surrey, was acquired in October and is typical of the sort of site the platform has been created to fund.

Joanna Greenslade, managing director of Barwood Capital said: “Our new platform is a great example of how Barwood Capital is providing its investors with innovative ways to access value in the UK regional property market whilst providing much-needed new homes

“Our classic Regional Property Funds have been primarily invested in commercial property stock and have a five year life. This platform invests in small, high quality residential developments and will target double digit returns to investors over a two to three year.

“Both the sector focus and time profile has been greeted with considerable enthusiasm by many of our existing investors. We are now undertaking a more formal launch of the platform to broaden our investor base. Due to the strong uptake following the soft launch, in the future, we will be considering applying this platform structure to access other property sectors.”

Steve Chambers, director, Barwood Capital added: “Since 2016, Barwood Capital has funded developers to build 183 houses in places such as Reigate, Banbury and Worcester. Our investors told us that they could see the demand for new quality homes and were keen to gain access and invest into this area of the market whilst enjoying the relatively short-term double digit returns it will offer. I saw the opportunity to set-up a platform that made it easy and accessible to invest. We have been pleased with the initial registration and have already secured our first site, with more under offer.”

To date, Barwood Capital has funded the development of 183 new homes across the UK through its five year Regional Property Funds where the minimum investment has been £1 million. Its latest fund, the 2017 Property Fund, closed in March 2018 with the ability to invest up to £150 million in UK regional property.

The platform has been set-up with Santander Bank to hold committed subscriptions.

To register your interest in the Platform please click here.