Invesco Real Estate Appoints Ascend To Manage Its First Uk Single-Family Rental Scheme

> Homes at Essex site to be operated under new Ascend Living white label brand

> Ascend now managing over 9,000 SFR homes nationwide, two thirds of the sector

Ascend – the UK’s largest third-party operator of single-family rental (SFR) homes, overseeing two thirds of the entire asset class – has secured a mandate from Invesco Real Estate, the USD 85bn global real estate investment business of Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ), to manage its first SFR scheme in the UK.

The instruction covers 99 homes acquired by Invesco Real Estate in Essex, which will be operated by Ascend under the firm’s new resident-facing Ascend Living brand.

Invesco Real Estate acquired the properties, which are located at the Beaulieu development in Chelmsford, from Hopkins Homes in January, and consists of two- and three-bedroom houses and two low-rise apartment blocks.

The acquisition is Invesco’s third transaction on behalf of a new European PRS (Private Rental Sector) mandate from a German institutional investor, following the purchase of 160 residential units in Madrid and 186 units in Copenhagen.

Rob Johnston, Managing Director - Head of Investment, UK & Nordics at Invesco Real Estate, said:
The underlying fundamentals behind the growth of the UK SFR market remain highly attractive and are creating a strongly positive investment case for institutional investors. It’s important to emphasise that tenants sit at the centre of the market so creating attractive homes that people want to live in is key. As such, it’s vital to work with best in class partners such as Ascend.

Launched in January, Ascend Living is a white-label, resident-facing build-to-rent brand providing an operational identity for unbranded platforms managed by Ascend. Over 2,500 homes across 52 schemes will come under the brand following its initial delivery programme for existing Ascend management instructions from several major clients.

Alongside other recent appointments and schemes onboarded, this new mandate brings the number of SFR homes managed by Ascend to over 9,000, around two thirds of the entire asset class. The expanded management portfolio follows a period of significant investment by Ascend, including further improvements to its industry-leading technology stack and the continued implementation of its territory manager model, which allows for nationwide coverage and smooth scaling as the SFR sector expands into new regions.

Lee Hill, commercial director at Ascend, said:
Invesco Real Estate is one of the leading names in investment management, and its choice of Ascend for its first UK SFR scheme highlights the strengths of our end-to-end management service and in particular our proprietary tech platform and territory manager model, allowing us to operate in any location in the UK with all aspects managed in-house. We look forward to bringing this scheme to the market and working closely with Invesco to drive performance as it makes its initial move into the UK SFR asset class.