Partner Article

Grainger on the acquisitions trail

The UK’s largest residential landlord Grainger has returned to the hunt for new property buys after shoring up its finances and observing signs of stability in the housing market.

The Newcastle-based plc said its acquisition pipeline grew to £8.6m in the four months to Jan. 31 following completion of a 2-for-1 rights issue which raised £237m in December.

“We continue to sell well at prices above the last reported valuation, while our improved financial position arising from the recent refinancing and rights issue has enabled us to recommence our acquisition programme,” said chief Executive Andrew Cunningham.

“To this end, we are currently actively evaluating a number of potential acquisitions, ranging from single assets to several larger scale portfolios,” he added.

Although encouraged by activity in Britain’s recession-hit housing market, Grainger said it would remain cautious in its approach to new buys, particularly in the face of higher levels of unemployment and fiscal tightening due later this year.

The company said its sales pipeline had grown by 42% to £83.9m on last year’s levels, with prices achieved or contracted around 5.3 percent above the Sept. 30 valuation.

Grainger said mortgage lending approvals, a key lead indicator for transaction volumes, had increased steadily since a November 2008 low point but were still some 40 percent lower than the pre-2007 long-run average.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .