The investment firm Vistria Group has raised more than $2.5 billion in assets under management for its real estate fund focused on affordable housing.
The capital increase comes as the so-called private real estate industry emerges from its toughest fund-raising year in more than a decade. But it also highlights how some investors see an opportunity to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis, which continues to simmer as a major political issue.
Vistria’s fund is led by Margaret Anadu, who joined the firm from Goldman Sachs in 2022. Vistria, based in Chicago, has acquired more than 7,000 homes since the real estate fund opened in 2023. Among its most recent deals was a project to convert nearly 700 market-rate apartments in California into affordable housing.
Rising interest rates and dwindling supply have driven up housing prices to record highs, according to the Brookings Institution. That’s driving politicians on both sides of the aisle to try to bolster investment by modifying zoning, cutting red tape and embracing private and public partnerships to increase the supply of housing for those in lower income brackets.
“The capital need is in the trillions, not billions,” Ms. Anadu said.
“It’s no secret that there’s a big market opportunity,” said Bennett Goodman, the executive chairman and a co-founder of Hunter Point Capital, an investment firm that backed Vistria in 2022. “What’s hard is being able to put together a scalable platform where you have sufficient capital to be relevant.”
Vistria’s fund-raising comes as some investing focused on social issues has fallen out of favor. But the size of the fund — and the broad buy-in from investors at so-called family offices, investment banks and insurance companies — indicate that investors don’t just see this as merely a “change they can make in society,” Ms. Anadu said. “We much more significantly have investors who are really focused on the commercial opportunity.”
Lauren Hirsch covers Wall Street for The Times, including M&A, executive changes, board strife and policy moves affecting business. More about Lauren Hirsch
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