Maven Property, a private equity and property manager, has raised £4.6m to fund the development of two residential property sites in Renfrew and Clackmannan in conjunction with Scottish housebuilder Ambassador Homes. The sites have planning consent for the development of 94 private houses and 35 affordable homes, and groundworks are underway at both locations.
The Clackmannan development, situated in a commuter town to the east of Stirling, comprises 77 family homes. The development will also include 35 affordable housing units, built under contract with Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association (a member of the Places For People group). The first housing completions are anticipated in July 2018.
The Maitland Gardens development of 52 private homes is located in the Moorpark region of Renfrew. The area has recently been developed with local shops, services, a park and a new primary school. The development has recently been released for sale and the first housing completions are anticipated in March 2018.
Gordon Coster, Managing Director at Ambassador Homes, commented: “Having worked on the pre-development phases of these sites for over two years now, we are thrilled to have partnered with Maven to secure the funding to progress the developments at Clackmannan and Maitland Gardens. We are encouraged by the initial levels of interest in the properties and are confident that their optimum positioning in key commuter locations will result in a very strong uptake.”
The Scottish residential sector saw a continued upward momentum in 2017, with market activity at its highest level since 2008 and house prices continuing to rise, underpinned by a lack of supply. According to Savills the pent up demand has led to selling times across Scotland’s cities dropping from 12 to nine weeks in the past year.
Colin Anderson, Investment Director at Maven, added: “We are delighted to be working with Ambassador Homes on these high quality residential development projects and are pleased to be able to play a small part in helping to address Scotland’s well documented housing shortage. This is an exciting time to invest in the residential sector as house price growth has been and is expected to remain strong in the right locations and we are delighted to offer our Investor Partner network the opportunity to participate.”
