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Vistry Group, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, is to sell a portfolio of 1,750 new build homes to the private equity firms Blackstone Real Estate and Regis Group in a £580m deal. The portfolio will be managed by the private rented housing firm Leaf Living, which is backed by funds managed by Blackstone and Regis.
The portfolio, which is concentrated in the south-east of England, consists of 1,750 homes across 36 Vistry developments. The first completions are expected by the end of June, with the majority of homes expected to complete within the next two years.
Vistry is in the process of selling off properties from its housebuilding division as the company moves towards focusing on its partnerships business, which builds affordable housing for government and non-profit partners.
Greg Fitzgerald, the chief executive of Vistry, formerly known as Bovis Homes, said: "By working in partnership with organisations like Leaf Living we can maximise the number of high-quality homes we deliver every year. This agreement supports our differentiated business model, with the certainty provided by the pre-selling of homes enabling us to accelerate our build programmes, guarantee work for our supply chain, reduce sales and build costs and create vibrant new communities.
"This year we are on track to deliver more than a 10% increase in new home completions, playing a key part in helping to address the UK’s acute housing shortage."
Blackstone has been investing in UK residential property and acquired 2,915 homes for £819m from Vistry in November. James Seppala, head of European real estate at the firm, said: "Institutional private capital can play an important role in providing high quality housing stock across the UK, particularly in the private rented sector which is significantly undersupplied today. Partnerships such as these can meaningfully accelerate the delivery of new homes and help alleviate structural undersupply across the sector."
Retail sales in the UK eked out modest growth last month, despite a strong bank holiday weekend for retailers.
Sales grew by 0.7% year on year in May, against growth of 3.9% in May last year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Food sales growth slowed to 3.% year on year in the three months to May from 9.6% a year ago. Non-food sales declined by 2.4%, against growth of 0.7% a year ago.
Helen Dickinson, the BRC chief executive, said: "Despite a strong bank holiday weekend for retailers, minimal improvement to weather across most of May meant only a modest rebound in retail sales last month.
"Although non-food sales fell over the course of the month, the long weekend did see increased purchases of DIY and gardening equipment, as well as strong clothing sales. Growth in computing sales reached their highest levels since the pandemic, with many consumers continuing to upgrade tech bought during that period.
"Retailers remain optimistic that major events such as the Euros and the Olympics will bolster consumer confidence this summer."
The agenda
• 8.55am BST: Germany unemployment for May
• 9.30am BST: UK Mergers & acquisitions
• 10am BST: Former Post Office finance chief Chris Day to testify in Horizon inquiry
• 3pm BST: US factory orders for April
We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
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Book festival activists are making absurd demands over Baillie Gifford 
