Despite the continued challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bank’s focus on the expansion of its ethical product offering to assist homebuyers, landlords and savers resulted in a year of solid growth, with a record number of people choosing Gatehouse and a doubling of pre-tax profits to £3.6m in 2021.
The bank sold a PRS fund to Goldman Sachs for £150m in the first sale of its kind, whilst the third PRS fund launched in a £500m joint venture with Texas Pacific Group Real Estate will deliver 2,500 houses for rent to families across the UK. Furthermore, institutional Build to Rent funds showed strong performance with a tenant occupancy of 99%.
“In a year characterised by the ongoing challenge of the global pandemic, Gatehouse made strong progress, with the expansion of service lines translating to growth of our customer base and the achievement of a profitable return for the second year in a row.
“Product innovation was a key driver of growth in 2021, with the introduction of our award-winning Woodland Saver on the savings side of the business, as well as a series of higher finance to value products, resulting in us welcoming a record number of new Home Finance customers to the bank.
“Developments in our Build to Rent business have also helped further establish our position as a market leader in this sector.
“As a founding signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, we look forward to continuing to develop our digital-first approach, expanding our offering to enable customers to bring their financial goals into ever closer alignment with the ethical and sustainable values they hold.
“More widely, our mission remains to continuously ensure that our success as a business is increasingly synonymous with what is best for society, helping to create a better future for all.”
Charles Haresnape, CEO, Gatehouse Bank
A joint venture with TPG Real Estate Partner of £500m has enabled the construction of up to 2,500 suburban, purpose-built family rental homes across the North and Midlands, and an initial Build to Rent scheme called Thistle was sold to Goldman Sachs – representing the first single family unit sale of scale in the UK.
“The Bank’s Institutional Build to Rent Funds performed strongly with tenant occupancy high at 99%. Gatehouse Bank sold its first Build to Rent fund and this transaction represented the first sale of a portfolio of scale in the single-family home sector in the UK and further established Gatehouse Bank as a leader in this field.
“The Bank established a third fund, creating a joint venture with Texas Pacific Group Real Estate, a leading alternative asset manager and this new fund will deliver at least 2,500 houses for rental to families across the UK.”
Charles Haresnape, CEO, Gatehouse Bank
Gatehouse Bank is a Shariah-compliant ethical bank, based in London, Milton Keynes and Wilmslow. It offers a range of ethical savings products as well as finance for UK residential and commercial real estate. In addition, the bank sources and advises on UK real estate investments with a focus on the Build to Rent sector.
