Merlin Housing Society has completed a £7.6m deal to buy 121 properties from Home Group.
It’s the second multi-million pound acquisition in just over two months for Merlin following the purchase of 33 properties from Magna Housing Association at the end of May.
As well as adding to the 8,000 properties the association owns in South Gloucestershire, these acquisitions see it working for the first time in neighbouring Bristol and Bath.
Merlin Chief Executive Ian Matthews said:
“Acquiring these properties is the first step in our ambitious growth plans. Over the next three years we aim to build or buy 300 new homes.”
“This is on top of the regeneration of our non-traditional home stock and supported housing schemes, which will see us redevelop up to 450 new homes.”
“Completing two acquisitions in such a short space of time is no mean feat but our dedicated project team worked hard to make the deals happen while keeping prospective new residents informed of what was going on and to prepare them for the transfer to a new landlord.”
The organisation, which celebrated its fifth birthday in February this year, is now focussing on its future after delivering the promises made when it took the transfer of South Gloucestershire Council housing stock in 2007.
Mr Matthews added:
“These acquisitions and our planned regeneration schemes are all part of our new business plan for 2012 – 17 that we’ve developed with our customers.”
“It sets out or focus on providing quality homes, delivering excellent services, investing in our communities and growing our business, with customers at the heart of everything we do.”
Source: Merlin Housing Society
