Hungarian Investor Debuts In UK PRS As Regional Markets Reel
Magyar horsemen swept from the Russian steppe into central Europe about a thousand years ago.
Now their Hungarian successors are thundering into the UK build-to-rent sector.
Budapest-based Cordia International has acquired Marcus Hawley’s Birmingham-based build-to-rent developer Blackswan Property in a deal funded by the National Bank of Hungary, Europe Real Estate reported.
Cordia’s UK debut follows similar charges into Polish and German private-rented-sector residential.
Blackswan has a £550M development pipeline including a series of projects in the city’s Jewellery Quarter, led by the 124-unit Lampworks. The new owners hope to create a 2,500-unit development business.
Cordia has more than 40 projects in progress amounting to 7M SF. It is owned by Budapest-based work and living space giant Futureal Group.
CBRE advised on the deal, which sees Cordia take another step toward being one of Europe’s largest residential development names.
Cordia enter a regional residential scene that is struggling to find its compass in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Data from Manchester revealed that whilst residential construction is now back to capacity, with 100% of schemes providing 100 or more units now back on-site, sales demand has collapsed, which could of course be good for the rental sector.
Land Registry figures show residential sales activity at a near halt following the pandemic, with the summer quarter showing sales 95% lower than in 2019/20 in the city centre market.
