Tokoro Capital (“Tokoro”), together with their vertically integrated student management business, Homie, and GCM Grosvenor (Nasdaq: GCMG), have established a long-term strategic partnership targeting UK student housing assets. The vehicle is supported by £75m of commitments from GCM Grosvenor, a global alternative asset management solutions provider with $87 billion of assets under management, providing c.£200m of investment capacity post leverage. The vehicle will focus on acquiring and repositioning traditional houses of multiple occupancy (“HMOs”) and first-generation purpose-built student accommodation (“PBSA”), targeting domestic students at more affordable rental levels than traditional, highly amenitised PBSA.
The UK PBSA market has grown significantly over the past two decades, evolving from a niche sub-sector into a mainstream institutional asset class. However, a combination of rising build-cost pressures and strong international student demand has driven PBSA rents to a level unaffordable for most domestic students, who make up over 70% of the UK student population.
Priced out by PBSA, domestic students tend to rent as groups in traditional residential houses and apartments, otherwise known as HMOs, after their first year of studies. Supply of HMOs is naturally constrained by UK planning regulations (“Article 4”), which restricts the conversion of existing family homes into shared rentals in student areas. This, together with stable domestic student population growth, has supported strong and stable rental growth of 5% per year over the last decade. Beyond these strong supply-demand fundamentals, HMOs also benefit from their ease of conversion back to traditional residential use, providing a structural value floor missing in PBSA.
HMOs make up around 80% of investable student housing stock in the UK but are predominantly owned by private landlords in fragmented portfolios. Ongoing regulatory, environmental, tax and financing pressures are turning many of these landlords into net sellers, unlocking a rare opportunity for institutions to deploy capital into this emerging sector at scale.
Tokoro backed the launch of Homie in 2024 to establish an HMO-focused platform capable of scaling and applying institutional discipline to what has historically been a fragmented and operationally complex asset class. Over just 18 months, the platform has amassed over 700 beds and has grown to a team of nine full-time employees. Homie is 100% owned by Tokoro and Homie’s founder, Tom Ferber. Prior to founding Homie, Tom Ferber spent over 15 years of his career at Student Cribs, where he played a pivotal role in building the largest institutionally owned HMO portfolio in the UK.
The partnership has already secured an initial seed portfolio of 440 beds, which, once closed, will position Homie as one of the largest institutional managers of student HMOs in the UK. Other large players include Student Cribs and the recently formed joint venture between Student Homes Management / Brookfield.
Max Bassadone, Co-Founding Partner of Tokoro said “Sanjay and I have been looking at this sub-sector of the UK student housing market for a long time and aggregated a portfolio under TKO-II demonstrating our capability both in terms of execution of this investment thesis and building an operating platform. GCM Grosvenor’s conviction in forming this vehicle with us further validates this.”
Tom Ferber, Founder of Homie, said “We are really excited to partner with GCM Grosvenor to continue the expansion of the Homie platform. HMOs are the go-to housing solution for domestic students, especially in their second and third year, yet the sector remains largely untapped by institutional investors. This additional firepower will strengthen Homie’s early mover advantage in what we believe will be the next wave of institutional student housing investment in the UK.”
Peter Braffman, Managing Director at GCM Grosvenor said, “We are thrilled to partner with Tokoro and Homie to expand our European presence into the UK student housing sector. Their clear strategic vision and proven execution capabilities give us confidence in their ability to create value.”
David Santola, Principal at GCM Grosvenor added, “By leveraging Tokoro and Homie’s deep student housing market knowledge and diligent property management team, we should be well positioned to perform in an already attractive sub-sector.”
About Tokoro Capital
Tokoro Capital is an independent real estate investment manager focused on the UK and Europe. The firm was established in 2018 by co-founders Sanjay Sethi and Max Bassadone. Tokoro Capital deploys capital thematically across industrials, structured debt, beds and offices. Tokoro Capital is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. For more information, visit: www.tokorocapital.com and https://hello-homie.com/.
About GCM Grosvenor
GCM Grosvenor (Nasdaq: GCMG) is a global alternative asset management solutions provider with approximately $87 billion in assets under management across private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and absolute return investment strategies. The firm has specialized in alternatives for more than 50 years and is dedicated to delivering value for clients by leveraging its cross-asset class and flexible investment platform.
GCM Grosvenor’s experienced team of approximately 560 professionals serves a global client base of institutional and individual investors. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in New York, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney. For more information, visit: www.gcmgrosvenor.com.
Media Contact
Sanjay Sethi
Tokoro Capital
+44 7767476449
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