Heitman LLC (“Heitman”), a global real estate investment management firm today announced the acquisition of 1,000 private residential rented units and 24 commercial units located across seven German federal states on behalf of Heitman European Residential Investment Partners (“HERIP”). This follows the firm’s investment in 125 rented residential units situated across the Netherland’s Randstadt region at the end of September.
With these latest additions to HERIP’s portfolio, Heitman has invested 71 percent of the fund’s committed equity of €230m. HERIP’s final close will be held at year-end and the fund is expected to reach €300m in equity commitments. Since 2014, Heitman’s Western European rented residential portfolio has grown to over €500m comprising 300,000m² and 4,700 units located in Germany and the Netherlands.
Heitman’s latest investment in German rented residential consists of an institutional portfolio of 1,024 units comprising 65,000m² of leasable residences located across North Rhine – Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Bremen and Hesse. The portfolio is 98 percent leased and almost 60 percent is located in Berlin, Hannover, Paderborn and Halle (Saale). The seller was Landericus Limited, a Guernsey-based closed-end investment fund.
Following its September acquisition of 125 rented residential units from Nationale Vastgoed Group’s portfolio, Heitman’s Dutch portfolio now comprises just under 80,000m² over 1,700 rented residential units that are situated in and around the high barrier to entry cities of Amsterdam, Leiden, The Hague and Utrecht. Since its initial investment in 2014, Heitman has evolved into one of Amsterdam’s largest private residential landlords.
Commented Gordon Black, Senior Managing Director for Heitman: “We continue to believe accumulating positions in residential real estate situated in high barrier to entry markets is warranted given broader macro-economic conditions in demographically attractive cities in Germany and the Netherlands. The properties are extremely well let and will provide strong income and further growth potential through the prudent use of additional capital to implement various value creation strategies at the asset level.”
Heitman has significant experience in the rented residential sector and anticipates it will benefit from a unique blend of cyclical turnaround potential, constructive structural reform, and favorable supply/demand fundamentals.
