The best way to invest in affordable housing

The private sector must play a role in meeting demand for retirement homes and shared ownership. This fund will help.

Old people living the dream
Retirement homes: a solution for loneliness
(Image credit: © Alamy)

Britain has a growing shortage of affordable housing. The number of new houses registered in the UK’s affordable and build-to-rent sector last year was 42,084, according to the National House Building Council – up just 20% since 2008.

Part of the problem is that housing associations – which account for 94% of social housing in the UK – “are scaling back investment in new properties to focus on fire safety and energy efficiency”, says Ben Fry, manager of Residential Secure Income (LSE: RESI). That why “the government is keen to support new entrants to the sector” – which is where his fund comes in.

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Max King
Investment Writer

Max has an Economics degree from the University of Cambridge and is a chartered accountant. He worked at Investec Asset Management for 12 years, managing multi-asset funds investing in internally and externally managed funds, including investment trusts. This included a fund of investment trusts which grew to £120m+. Max has managed ten investment trusts (winning many awards) and sat on the boards of three trusts – two directorships are still active.

After 39 years in financial services, including 30 as a professional fund manager, Max took semi-retirement in 2017. Max has been a MoneyWeek columnist since 2016 writing about investment funds and more generally on markets online, plus occasional opinion pieces. He also writes for the Investment Trust Handbook each year and has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and other publications. See here for details of current investments held by Max.