Sky-House ties up £2.7m deal for Rotherham homes
The Sheffield-based housebuilder has traded 11 recently completed homes in Waverley to fund manager Hearthstone, meaning phase two of the brownfield scheme has sold out.
The eleven homes – a mixture of three and four-bed properties – were bought by Hearthstone Investments to be rented out.
Waverley’s selling point is its connectivity to both Junction 33 of the M1 and to the centres of both Sheffield and Rotherham, along with strong environmental credentials.
A further phase of new Sky Houses – the development of a 4.2-acre site adjacent to Harworth’s Olive Lane town centre scheme – will bring a further 96 homes, all predicated on Sky-House’s professed aims of sensitive density, robust materials, sustainable features and communal spaces.
Hearthstone Investments is a specialist fund manager focused on the private rented sector, with more than £450m of assets under management. This deal is Sky-House’s first with a specialist fund of this kind. All eleven homes are now being marketed through local agents.
David Cross, founder and director of Sky-House Co, said: “This is an excellent deal for Sky-House, reflecting the quality of our homes for the institutional investment market.
“Directly dealing with Hearthstone has been a pleasure, with the deal concluded quickly over the summer. We hope this develops into a long term partnership with Hearthstone, as well as providing a reference point for other funds and institutions as we develop out our pipeline of sites in South Yorkshire and beyond.”
Cedric Bucher, chief executive of Hearthstone Investments, said: “The product that Sky-House develops is exactly what the private rented sector is crying out for; quality, new homes with strong environmental credentials in a great location.
“The ability to bring these properties to the rental market works both for our institutional investors and delivers what local people on average salaries need. It’s a benchmark for what private rented homes should be.”
Sky-House Co has used £12.5m of South Yorkshire Pension Fund financing via the St Bride’s White Rose Residential Partnership to deliver 100 homes in 2023 and is targeting a minimum of 150 completions per year from 2024 onwards.
Aside from its work at Waverley, it has also recently begun work on transforming DQ, the 0.55-acre former Stokes Tiles warehouse site in Sheffield’s Devonshire Quarter, which will become a community of 60 two-bedroom duplex homes and one-bedroom apartments, alongside commercial space for start-ups and community uses.
The company is actively establishing a pipeline of sites that will offer BTR homes across the North of England and the Midlands – it hopes to have two deals, agreed in principle, completed this year.
