Delph Property Group has expanded its portfolio of luxury flats for the private rented sector with two new acquisitions in Leicester and Birmingham valued at £14m in total.
In Leicester, the London-based residential property investment group has invested circa £5m in 64 one- and two-bedroom flats in Highcross Shopping Centre, in Leicester city centre.
The scheme was purchased from Hammerson and the flats will be refurbished and re-let.
Delph has also spent £9m on a 61-unit new-build luxury flat development in Carver Street, in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The scheme was sold by Queensbridge Homes. Construction began in mid-April.
The deals follows Delph’s off-plan purchase last year of 105 flats near Warstone Lane.
Howard Crocker, managing director at Delph, said: “We have seen the recent improvements and regeneration of Leicester’s city centre and we identified its housing market as a key area for us to invest in. This is especially due to the factors that make the city an ideal location for a PRS acquisition: increased confidence, rising employment and two good universities in the area.”
Meanwhile in Birmingham, James de Souza, managing director of Queensbridge Homes, said: “Delph Property Group has essentially de-risked the entire development by providing us with a clear exit strategy, all under one contract as opposed to 61 individual purchasers. The solution that Delph offered us was much more attractive than bank finance and the incumbent risks that go with it.”
Delph now owns more than 1,000 properties across the UK. The firm intends to expand across the Midlands and the UK as a whole.
