Powerhouse Habitat

Natixis arranged a €560 million eight-year senior mortgage financing for Powerhouse Habitat, which includes a €50m capex credit line that will serve to improve the comfort and energy performance of the Safran portfolio, the firm's main asset holding subsidiary. Safran owns 6,150 mainly single-family residential units located across France which are primarily leased to EDF, the nation's electricity utility provider, under a long-term lease agreement.

Powerhouse Habitat is a French residential REIT/SIIC targeting a €3bn share of the French housing market. It was launched in January 2018 by TwentyTwo Real Estate, a privately-held real estate group with bases in Paris, London and Luxembourg. Scaprim, the French subsidiary of TwentyTwo Real Estate, manages the Safran portfolio.

Daniel Rigny, founder of Powerhouse Habitat, told the European Investment Bank that the firm would take advantage of structural changes taking place in the French residential market over the next few years. Powerhouse Habitat aims to expand and diversify its portfolio and has recently acquired 375 units in nine buildings located in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Metz. Its total residential portfolio is currently valued at around €1bn.

Natixis’ research forecasts domestic demand and investment on the French residential market to be supported by accommodative monetary conditions through 2020. Favorable financial conditions and robust economy are suggestive of robust housing demand. Yet, at a slower pace, as the refocus of support measures, a rise in countercyclical capital buffer and increasingly reduced access to zero-interest rate loans may undermine housing purchases.