Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has committed a further £100m of equity to Thriving Investments’ private rented sector (PRS) strategy, Picture Living.

This latest commitment aims to support Thriving Investments’ ambition to increase the Picture Living portfolio to more than 2,000 homes by the end of 2024.

Thriving Investments said that the investment would deliver “positive, place-based impact”, while reflecting the continued appetite from UK pension schemes for exposure to income-focused real estate that “delivers long-term, stable returns”.

Its commitment to delivering affordable rental homes is already backed by pension money from USS, Strathclyde Pension Fund and Dutch pension provider APG.

Since its inception in 2018, Picture Living has created a portfolio of around 1,800 homes in the UK, of which approximately 180 are currently under development.

According to a recent Savills report, nearly £250bn will need to be invested in UK housing to address the growing rental crisis, with one million rental homes needed between now and 2031 to meet demand.

Picture Living has a mandate to deliver predominantly single-family homes for rent across the UK, concentrated around population hubs that benefit from strong transport links and community infrastructure.

Its focus is on schemes or portfolios of 30 to 80+ homes, with Touchstone, the specialist property management business of Places for People, managing the current portfolio on a day-to-day basis.

Last year saw around £45m of original capital committed on behalf of the strategy to forward fund more than 100 single-family homes for rent across four UK schemes in London and the south east.

“We continue to increase our exposure to asset types which provide resilient and stable cash flows that align with the long-term pension promises we make to our members, plus benefit from strong macro tailwinds in the sector,” commented USS head of property, Alex Turner.

“Picture Living complements our other investments in the living sector including PBSA, equity release, shared ownership and residential development lending.”

Picture Living fund manager, Jamie Younger, added: “This commitment extends our partnership with one of the UK’s largest pension schemes and reinforces our strategy to date as a differentiated fund manager with a social conscience, delivering much needed single- and multi-family home-led communities across the UK.

“Solving the UK’s rental crisis has become an issue of national importance, and one where it has become increasingly apparent that the solution to delivering homes at the scale and pace required lies with institutional capital and fund managers.

“Our focus now is to deploy the capital into new opportunities, leveraging our strong housebuilder relationships to grow the portfolio to over 2,000 homes.”

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