The Amvest Residential Core Fund is our flagship. The fund focuses on sustainable single-person homes and apartments in the medium-priced sector in economically strong regions in the Netherlands, mostly in and around the Randstad area and the Brabant metropolitan area. The average age of the portfolio properties is just nine years.
The Amvest Residential Core Fund invests in medium priced unregulated rental homes in the Netherlands (EUR 808 – 1,550 per month bandwidth depending on the region). Homes that are keenly sought after by Dutch households. The fund has a clear strategy with a regional focus. The portfolio focuses strongly on the four large cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) as well as other towns and cities in the ‘Central Circle’. The strong cities outside this area, such as Groningen, Zwolle and Maastricht, are also of interest. These are economically attractive areas where people want to live.
The fund endeavours to secure an acceptable return with a conservative use of loan capital. The dynamic portfolio policy ensures high quality and an energy efficient portfolio. The result is that operational expenses are relatively low. The Amvest Residential Core Fund is open to new investors.
The Amvest Residential Core Fund pursues an active ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) policy. Sustainability in the broad sense. We have established concrete ESG objectives on the back of discussions with tenants, investors, property managers, developers and our staff. These and other non-financial criteria form fixed elements of our portfolio management. The fund achieved a score of 5 stars out of 5 in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) in 2022.
In 2017, Amvest carried out its first materiality assessment of the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) topics most material to our internal and external stakeholders. The goal of the assessment is to align our ESG policy with our stakeholders’ expectations and to better manage our impacts on the economy, environment, and people. The outcome of the assessment is a materiality matrix.
In 2022, we set out to update the materiality matrix by surveying our investors, property managers, tenants, employees, and developers. The survey included a smaller set of topics compared to 2017. In partnership with a sustainability consultant, we selected 16 ‘house in order’ topics. These are topics that we consider fundamental to our business strategy. Examples include Compliance to legislation, Employee health, and Shareholders rights. These topics are considered material by default.
Respondents were asked to rate the level of materiality to Amvest as an organisation for a total of 17 ESG topics. We translated the materiality survey results to a materiality matrix in accordance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The matrix indicates the materiality of all surveyed topics according to external stakeholders and internal stakeholders. The following topics were deemed most material for Amvest:
1. Net 2.zero: carbon emissions, energy efficiency, renewable energy
2. Climate adaptation: water, drought
3. Climate adaptation: urban heat solutions
4. Supply of sufficient high quality and affordable private sector rental homes to e.g. key workers
5. Prevention of vacancy and occupancy rate
6. Sustainable and responsible procurement
7. Circularity: materials and lifecycle
8. Generation of economic value
9. Biodiversity and nature
10. Healthy buildings
On the basis of the SFDR, financial market participants are required to indicate how they handle sustainability risks and to detail the consequences of this approach (for more details, see Investment Management). In addition, the regulation contains transparency requirements at fund level.
The regulation distinguishes between:
The Amvest Residential Core Fund qualifies as a light-green fund which promotes the following environmental and social characteristics:
Environmental characteristics
1. Investing in energy efficient homes/future proof homes.
2. Realizing a reduction of CO2 emissions.
Social characteristics
3. Ensuring high quality living environment.
4. Providing affordable/attainable homes.
These characteristics are part of the fund’s strategy and the individual aspects and are reflected in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These KPIs are defined and measured at fund level. A target is set for each KPI that is measured and reported. The KPIs and targets are evaluated annually and adjusted if necessary.
KPIs defined and measured for these characteristics are:
Environmental characteristics
1. Composition of the portfolio by energy labels.
2. Scope 1, 2 and 3 CO2 emissions of the properties.
Social characteristics
3. Annual tenant satisfaction score on the topics living environment and quality of home.
4. Percentage of affordable/attainable homes.
For more information on the KPIs defined, the results of the past year, the data sources and screening criteria, please refer to the Annual Sustainability Report of the Amvest Residential Core Fund and specifically for SFDR to attached Sustainability related disclosures.
The Amvest Residential Core Fund qualifies as an ‘article 8’ product under the SFDR and, as such, promotes Environmental/Social (E/S) characteristics. Whilst it does not have sustainable investment as its objective, it has a proportion of 63% in sustainable investments with an environmental objective in economic activities that do not qualify as environmentally sustainable under the EU Taxonomy and 65% in sustainable investments with a social objective.
As part of our SFDR disclosure obligations we published the following disclosures on the Amvest Residential Core Fund level:
Amvest is not just a fund manager. We also develop homes in the medium-priced sector.. The Amvest Residential Core Fund has a rotating right of first refusal to the residential rental properties developed by Amvest. This ensures that the Fund has a long-term, high value pipeline of forthcoming property, in line with the Fund’s investment strategy. The Fund also buys homes from other developers.
A leading fund manager and an experienced and dedicated team go hand-in-hand. Under the responsibility of the Fund’s board, each Fund at Amvest is directed by a driven portfolio manager, supported by a team of asset managers and technical managers. They maintain close contact with contractors, real estate managers and tenants via the Amvest Tenant Platform and a range of tenant associations. The team is supported by a specialised and efficient back office.
Find here the Amvest Residential Core Fund Sustainability-related disclosures.
