Thriving Investments, the socially conscious fund manager focused on the UK Living sector, has secured a further £100 million of equity from Universities Superannuation Scheme (‘USS’), one of the largest pension schemes in the UK, for its flagship private rented sector (“PRS”) strategy, Picture Living (the “platform”). This latest commitment will support Thriving Investments’ ambition to grow the Picture Living portfolio to in excess of 2,000 homes by the end of 2024, delivering positive, place-based impact, whilst reflecting the continued appetite from UK pension funds for exposure to income focussed real estate that delivers long-term, stable returns.
Since launching in 2018, Picture Living has amassed a portfolio of c. 1,800 singlefamily and multifamily homes in the UK, of which c. 180 are currently under development. The additional USS commitment comes as a Savills report published last month revealed that nearly £250 billion will need to be invested in UK housing to solve the growing rental crisis, with one million rental homes needed between now and 2031 to meet demand.
Picture Living has a mandate to deliver high-quality new or modern, predominantly singlefamily, homes for rent across the UK, concentrated around population hubs that benefit from strong transport links and community infrastructure. Its focus is on schemes or portfolios of 30 to 80+ homes. Touchstone, the specialist property management business of Places for People, manages the current portfolio on a day-to-day basis.
The mandate aligns with Thriving Investment’s wider commitment to create and regenerate residential-led communities across England and Scotland through both an environmental and social lens, with every home in the portfolio targeting an EPC B or higher rating.
Alongside the appointment of Jamie Younger as Fund Manager for Picture Living, 2023 saw
c. £45 million of original capital committed on behalf of the strategy to forward fund over 100 singlefamily homes for rent across four UK schemes in London and the south-east.
Jamie Younger, Fund Manager for Picture Living, commented: “This commitment extends our partnership with one of the UK’s largest pension schemes and reinforces our strategy to date as a differentiated fund manager with a social conscience, delivering much needed single-and-multi-family home-led communities across the UK.
“Solving the UK’s rental crisis has become an issue of national importance, and one where it has become increasingly apparent that the solution to delivering homes at the scale and pace required lies with institutional capital and fund managers. Our focus now is to deploy the capital into new opportunities, leveraging our strong housebuilder relationships to grow the portfolio to over 2,000 homes.”
Alex Turner, Head of Property at USS, said: “We continue to increase our exposure to asset types which provide resilient and stable cash flows that align with the long-term pension promises we make to our members, plus benefit from strong macro tailwinds in the sector. Picture Living complements our other investments in the Living sector including PBSA, equity release, shared ownership and residential development lending.”