London, United Kingdom: Fiera Real Estate, the European real estate arm of Fiera Capital, and Packaged Living, a leading UK rental living platform, have reached approximately €238m of investment capacity for FRESH, their new open-ended single-family housing vehicle. The milestone follows an €83m investment from the National Housing Bank, a Homes England company. It is a strong early endorsement for a strategy that was only established in August 2026.
FRESH is targeting a portfolio of approximately €1.2bn of high-quality, professionally managed family rental homes across supply-constrained UK locations. It will invest through forward-funding and forward-commitment agreements with developers and housebuilders, giving them a scalable route to deliver new homes. The vehicle will use the Sustainability Impact label under the UK Sustainable Disclosure Regulation, underlining its commitment to increasing the supply of private rental single-family homes in underserved locations. The National Housing Bank's investment will support further deployment into the strategy's existing pipeline.
"This investment demonstrates the role the National Housing Bank can play in attracting institutional capital into housing delivery. By partnering with Fiera and Packaged Living, we are supporting the creation of a pipeline of family rental homes at scale, helping to address undersupply in key markets and deliver lasting benefits for communities," said Simon Century, Chief Executive Officer for the National Housing Bank. The bank aims to invest up to approximately €19bn in housing delivery and regeneration over the next decade, and to attract more than €60bn of private capital alongside it.
"Securing this commitment is a strong validation of our investment thesis and joint track record with Packaged Living in delivering high-quality rental housing. The strategy provides institutional investors with targeted exposure to an established asset class that can be scaled effectively, marking another major step in our growth journey. Living represents one of Fiera's three conviction sectors alongside real estate debt and logistics, all of which are driven by strong structural tailwinds, long-term supply-demand imbalances, and defensive, inflation-resilient income streams," said Charles Allen, Head of European Real Estate at Fiera Real Estate. Ed Ellerington, CEO of Packaged Living, added: "This is a further example of how effective collaboration between private and public capital can accelerate housing delivery across multiple tenures and at scale. Packaged Living has been a pioneering force in the institutionalisation of UK rental housing, of which single-family housing is now a mature asset class with demonstrable benefits across sustainability and socio-economic impact. We will leverage our full lifecycle expertise and proven track record to deliver high-quality, sustainable homes that offer the potential for downside protection, growth prospects and measurable benefits for our investors."
For investors and developers, the less-discussed implication is what a forward-funding buyer of this kind means for housebuilders. Volume builders and SME developers have faced a thinning pool of private buyers for completed homes, and a state-backed anchor investor that crowds in institutional capital can effectively create a committed exit for family housing schemes before a spade is in the ground. That matters most in supply-constrained locations where viability is tight. It also signals that single-family rental is moving from a niche into a core institutional living strategy alongside build-to-rent flats, with public capital acting as the catalyst rather than the competitor.
Fiera Real Estate's European business was founded in 1992 and directly manages approximately €3.1bn of assets, with a diversified living pipeline of more than 12,500 homes as at 30 June 2026. Packaged Living currently develops and operates 4,000 homes across garden-style, co-living and multi-family formats, and has delivered approximately 278,700m² of purpose-built housing since 2018, with a portfolio gross development value of approximately €1.5bn. Fiera Real Estate manages approximately €7.7bn of commercial real estate globally.
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People
- Simon Century, Chief Executive Officer, National Housing Bank
- Charles Allen, Head of European Real Estate, Fiera Real Estate
- Ed Ellerington, Chief Executive Officer, Packaged Living
Companies
- Fiera Real Estate, European real estate arm of Fiera Capital; founded 1992 and headquartered in London; approximately €3.1bn of assets under management in Europe; co-sponsor of FRESH
- Packaged Living, Fiera Real Estate's European rental living arm; investment manager, developer and operator across single-family, multi-family, garden-style, co-living and flex-living; co-sponsor of FRESH
- National Housing Bank, government-backed public finance institution and a Homes England company; investor in FRESH with €83m; aims to invest up to approximately €19bn in housing over the next decade
- Homes England, government housing and regeneration agency; parent of the National Housing Bank
- Fiera Capital Corporation, Montreal-headquartered independent asset management firm (TSX: FSZ); parent of Fiera Real Estate
- FRESH, open-ended single-family housing investment vehicle established in August 2026; approximately €238m of investment capacity; targeting a portfolio of approximately €1.2bn
