Harwood Real Estate has bought a £40m portfolio of regional privately rented homes previously owned by Dunbar Bank borrowers.
The portfolio, known as Project Parcel, comprises 482 homes across 18 sites that generate a total annual rent of £3m, reflecting a gross yield on the acquisition of 7.5%.
Harwood bought the homes through subsidiary Bass Real Estate and is managing them on behalf of private equity clients. The occupancy rate in the portfolio is 95%.
The sites are concentrated in the West Midlands and North East, with the largest consisting of 61 homes in East Anglia.
The homes consist principally of blocks of flats, but some sites also include townhouses and commercial units.
Nick Pleydell-Bouverie, partner and head of tenant residential investments at Knight Frank Residential Capital Markets, which advised the vendor, said the deal reflected the “exceptional wall of capital” chasing PRS investments outside London.
The 18 sites were sold on behalf of eight individual Dunbar Bank borrowers.
Dunbar is part of insurance group Zurich, which closed the bank in the wake of the financial crisis and began working out its assets.
