Vistry Group announces £819 million partnership deal with Leaf Living and Sage Homes

Leaf and Sage will acquire a total of 2,915 units from Vistry. The group said the homes are on plots located across 70 of its developments, with delivery set to commence this year, and the majority of the homes completed over the next two years.

Greg Fitzgerald, Vistry Group chief executive officer, said: "We have an excellent track record of working in partnership with Leaf and Sage to deliver new homes and I am extremely pleased to have reached agreement to grow these relationships through this exciting, market leading opportunity.

“Through our unique Partnerships model, Vistry is maintaining the momentum of delivery of much needed affordable housing across the UK. Our strategy gives the Group significantly greater visibility on earnings than traditional housebuilders and this new partnership and others to follow, will help us drive towards our medium-term targets and the delivery of £1 billion of shareholder distributions over the next three years."

Vistry and Sage said they intend to utilise existing Homes England grant funding under the Affordable Homes Programme, which will enable them to deliver both rented and shared ownership homes.

The transaction comprises 1,522 units for the private rented sector, which are being deliver to Leaf, and 1,393 affordable homes for rent and shared ownership, which will be delivered to Sage.

In September, Vistry Group announced a restructuring plan that would see it operate as a single business, with 27 regional business units, a reduction from 32.

It also announced that its overall headcount would reduce by around 200 as a result of the restructuring. These jobs are seperate to the four per cent reduction in staff Vistry Group announced as part of its 2022 acquisition of Countryside.

The group said that it expected to save around £25 million of annualised costs through the changes, adding that it would shift its focus solely to social housing. This decision was made after rising mortgage costs affected sales completions across the group’s wider business.

In its third quarter trading update, issued towards the end of last month, Vistry said it was targeting adjusted profit before tax of £450 million for the financial year 2023, excluding the impact of transitioning the housebuilding business to partnerships.

Vistry Group last year merged with Countryside, its former rival, in a £1.3 billion cash and shares deal.