Investor Octopus supports affordable homes development in Peterborough

This image shows how the homes at Great Haddon, Peterborough, will appear once completed.

House and flats to be completed later this year

A national investment fund is to help power the construction of 26 homes in Peterborough for use as affordable housing.

Octopus Investments has committed to acquire the still-to-built homes in Great Haddon from Vistry Homes.

Octopus says it will use its new Affordable Housing Fund to ensure the construction of the homes which comprise eight houses and 18 flats and will offer a mix of both affordable rent and shared ownership tenures.

The fund has already received £50 million investment from London CIV, the investment pool for 32 of London’s Local Government Pension Schemes plus a further £10 million from Big Society Capital (BSC), a so-called social impact investor.

Fund managers say the scheme will serve an area of high housing need, where the provision of new affordable housing over the past four years has been less than 50 per cent of the required amount.

Jack Burnham, head of Affordable Housing at Octopus, said: “While the affordable housing investment market is still relatively young, it is growing, and we continue to receive strong demand from investors.

"They are attracted by the potential to generate long-term sustainable income and the ability to have real impact.”

Drew Ritchie, Investment Director at Big Society Capital, said: “We believe that impact-driven private capital has a vital role to play in addressing the country’s housing shortage.”

Fraser Hopes, managing director of Vistry Homes, said: “The sale of these homes to Octopus will help people looking to rent a home, or to buy through shared ownership and become part of this thriving new community near Peterborough.

"We look forward to welcoming the first residents to their homes later this year.”

The homes will be owned by NewArch Homes, the Affordable Housing Fund’s registered provider of social housing.