Assetz investors make a ‘double’ return
Investors in Assetz Capital and Assetz Exchange can make a “double return”, by earning attractive rates of interest while also doing social good.
Stuart Law (pictured), chief executive of the Assetz group of companies, which includes Assetz Capital and its sister company Assetz Exchange, believes that peer-to-peer investing is one of the easiest ways for investors to make an impact – and has been for quite some time.
Since it was founded in 1999, Assetz Group as a whole has funded around £2.5bn of new housing. In 2018, the platform added supported living homes and eco housing to its focus and it has since set a target of ensuring that 95 per cent of all new homes funded this year will have an EPC rating of B or higher. This represents a significant environmental benefit for investors.
Meanwhile, through Assetz Exchange, investors can back supported housing for many client groups including adults with learning difficulties, or charity-owned accommodation for former prisoners, allowing lenders to do social good while also earning competitive returns.
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“Our investors are effectively getting a double return from their capital,” says Law.
“And I suppose that’s another way of describing impact investing. It’s a way of producing perfectly sensible returns, so you’re not necessarily turning away a normal level of financial return.
“You’re just choosing to put the money into something that has additional benefits, additional impact, and an additional return, in this case for society.”
Assetz has recently released its first impact report which outlines some of the positive social and environmental good that the company has been doing since it was founded in 1999 at assetz.com. The report shows how Assetz has been leading a grassroots impact investing culture even before impact investing was a concern for investors.
“We’ve always brought lots more homes to market, funded care homes within Assetz Capital, but we’ve escalated all of that over recent years,” Law says.
“And Assetz Exchange has significantly focused on the supported living sector.”
The investment strategy of Assetz Exchange is to generate “specific benefits to society in addition to financial gains,” Law explains.
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Currently, investors in Assetz Exchange are receiving returns of more than five per cent, but Law believes that many of their investors are also very interested in the “ethical” return.
“Assetz Exchange funds properties that look after several sub-sectors of care,” Law explains. “And Assetz Capital is funding an increasing number of eco homes as well as traditional housing. We’re beginning to move the dial on the environmental impact of new homes.
“We deliver great investment returns, and we do all this amazing stuff as well so our investors can get two returns for the same pound.”
Since 2013, Assetz Capital investors have earned more than £173m in gross interest and delivered £1.5bn of new housing but it is only just getting started.
In the future, Assetz intends to grow its focus on the wider care sector, with the aim of becoming one of the biggest funders of care in the country for both development and long-term mortgages. This means that investors will be able to continue to receive double returns as long as they remain invested in the platform.
“More than 90 per cent of all investments on the platform from day one have been impact investments,” says Law. “We’ve even turned some existing properties into impact investments.”
By offering competitive returns which come with tangible social and environmental benefits, Assetz investors can be at the forefront of a new impactful movement.
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