Social Housing REIT — Scale, diversification, and growth

Living REIT (LSE: LIVE)

Last close As at 05/08/2026

GBP0.77

−0.90 (−1.16%)

Market capitalisation

GBP302m

More on this equity

Research: Real Estate

Social Housing REIT — Scale, diversification, and growth

Social Housing REIT (SOHO) has entered a conditional agreement for the acquisition of a portfolio of senior living assets for a headline price of £108m. The acquisition will be funded by a mix of cash and new shares at price equivalent to end-FY25 EPRA NTA and is subject to shareholder approval. Since the start of FY25, with Atrato as investment manager, SOHO has made strong progress with optimising the portfolio, improving earnings, and returning to dividend growth. With the FY25 results it flagged the opportunities for increasing scale and growth potential by broadening the company’s exposure across other structurally supported living sectors. SOHO expects the acquisition to be high single‑digit earnings accretive in the first full financial year following completion.

Written by

Martyn King

Director, Financials. Property and Insurance

Real estate

Acquisition

17 June 2026

Price 72.30p
Market cap £284m

Net debt as at 31 December 2025

£237.6m

Shares in issue

393.5m
Free float 100.0%
Code SOHO
Primary exchange LSE
Secondary exchange N/A
Price Performance

Business description

Social Housing REIT invests primarily in newly built and newly renovated social housing assets in the UK, with a particular focus on supported housing. The company aims to provide a stable, long-term, inflation-linked income with the potential for capital growth.

Analyst

Martyn King
+44 (0)20 3077 5700

Social Housing REIT is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited

Note: FORECASTS UNDER REVIEW. Total income is net rental income. EPRA earnings is adjusted to exclude non-cash loan fee amortisation and includes changes in the lease incentive debtor. Throughout this report NAV is EPRA net tangible assets (NTA).

Year end Total income (£m) EPRA earnings (£m) EPS (p) NAV/share (£) DPS (p) Yield (%) P/NAV (x)
12/24 35.8 21.2 5.40 0.99 5.46 7.6 0.73
12/25 40.0 25.2 6.53 0.94 5.62 7.8 0.77
12/26e 40.7 25.5 6.49 1.01 5.79 8.0 0.72
12/27e 42.4 26.9 6.84 1.05 5.96 8.2 0.69

Seeking to be the leading UK-listed Living REIT

The portfolio is to be acquired from Residential Secure Income REIT (RsSI), which has committed to realise assets in an orderly manner. The portfolio comprises 1,907 senior living rental flats and 256 housing manager flats. As with SOHO’s existing portfolio of specialised supported housing (SSH) assets, these benefit from inflation‑aligned income streams, needs‑driven demand and long average tenures, while delivering positive social outcomes. The SOHO board believes that the expansion of SOHO’s investment focus to adjacent living subsectors, with similar fundamental characteristics to SSH, represents a natural evolution of the company's mandate. It offers increased diversification, scale, deeper share liquidity and resilience of income sources. Marking this, the company intends to rebrand as Living Reit (LIVE). A detailed presentation is available on the company website.

The necessary broadening of SOHO’s investment policy will be put to an extraordinary meeting of shareholders, for which a prospectus will be available shortly. In addition to senior living, this will include care/nursing homes similarly aligned with SOHO’s strategy. The consideration for the acquisition comprises £45m in cash, funded by SOHO’s existing cash resources and a new £30m debt facility, the issue of 66.1m new shares at a price equal to the end-FY25 EPRA NTA of 94.2p per share. £1m will be deferred until the completion accounts have been finalised.

SOHO expects the earnings enhancement resulting from the acquisition to strengthen dividend cover and support the sustainability of the company's progressive dividend policy. The Q126 quarterly interim DPS of 1.4475 represented an increase of 3% versus the FY25 run rate. On a pro forma basis, SOHO estimates gross assets to £830m end-FY25: £637m, EPRA rental income of £51.5m (£40.0m) and adjusted earnings of £33.8m (£25.7m). Pro forma net loan-to-value is 41.0% (39.5%) with a low average cost of debt and 10-year maturity. Our forecasts are under review.

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