[laurejon]

The Residential Property Portfolio

The London-based residential property portfolio forms around eight per cent of the Commissioners’ overall investments, and twenty-eight per cent of the property portfolio. The residential portfolio comprises two distinct parts: the Hyde Park estate, in central London – some 1,800 properties, largely leasehold; and the Octavia Hill estates comprising some 1,130 properties mainly in South London.

The Octavia Hill estates form part of the investment portfolio of the Church Commissioners and, before that, were part of the investment portfolio of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

The Commissioners’ legal duty as trustees is to manage their assets for the financial support of the Church of England nationwide. They carry out regular reviews of all their investment assets, equities, property or otherwise, to ensure that they continue to be managed in a way that best enables the Commissioners to provide this support.

Whilst residential property forms part of the Commissioners’ investments, it is not one of their objects to provide housing. The Church Commissioners are a private landlord. In this respect they are quite different from a Housing Association or Registered Social Landlord, as the purposes of the Commissioners’ business do not include the provision of housing (other than housing for the clergy).

In the past ten years, the total return on the Church Commissioners' investments has averaged 11.1 per cent per annum compared with 7.9 per cent per annum for their independent benchmark. This has resulted in an additional £45 million per annum being made available for the ministry of the Church of England, compared to only the benchmark return being achieved.



The Genesis Housing Group

Genesis Housing Group is one of the UK’s largest and most successful providers of homes for rent and sale. The Group currently consists of PCHA, Sutherland, Pathmeads and Springboard housing associations and together, owns and/or manages more than 41,000 homes across London and the south east.

All the management of homes in Maida Vale, Waterloo and Stoke Newington will be undertaken by Pathmeads Housing Association. Pathmeads has extensive experience in delivering all aspects of a high-quality, responsive housing management service. It manages over 20,000 homes for local authorities under contract and homes for 6,000 former homeless families through high-standard leased accommodation.

Grainger Trust

Grainger Trust Plc is the UK’s largest quoted residential property owner with over 12,000 homes and gross assets in excess of £1.4 billion. The Company’s standing as a reputable and caring landlord has enabled it to purchase large portfolios and one-off properties from a variety of vendors, including private and public companies, the Government, charities and private individuals.



Properties



Waterloo Estate

The estate lies south of The Cut just by the Old Vic Theatre at the back of Waterloo station. The properties, built in the 1900s, are in a conservation area and comprise 159 homes as flats and cottages. They have recently undergone a major refurbishment programme principally to the exterior and shared areas of the homes.

Middleton House, Pimlico

Middleton House lies off Causton Street and comprises 32 one, two and three bed flats in two four-storey apartment blocks. They have recently undergone a major refurbishment programme principally to the exterior and shared areas.

Vauxhall Estate

The Vauxhall estate is situated off Wandsworth Road and Wilcox Road and comprises 230 flats in eight apartment blocks, as well as a parade of 23 shops. The older buildings date back to the 1930s. A major refurbishment of the exterior and shared areas, as well as the gardens, has recently been completed.

Winchester Park

The Winchester Park estate lies between Union Street and Pepper Street, SE1, beside the site of the former All Hallows Church, and comprises 93 flats in seven interlinked blocks, built in the 1930s.

Walworth Estate

The Walworth estate lies off Liverpool Grove in the SE17 area. It comprises 618 residential properties, being a variety of two and three storey terraced houses and apartments built at the beginning of the last century. The estate also includes a doctors’ surgery and a corner shop.

[laurejon]

The Church Commissioners' 56-page report on the financial state of the Church of England released yesterday, made for, well, not particularly interesting reading really. It's the sort of thing journalists read, digest and regurgitate in highly condensed form so the rest of the population can learn the main points and get on with watching The Apprentice. One of the more fascinating parts of the report, however, concerned the Anglican church's property portfolio, which comprises 120,000 acres in rural areas alone.

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The church owns large tracts of land in cathedral cities such as Canterbury, Ely, Peterborough and York and in towns such as Huntingdon and Kelmscott. More recently, it has invested in industrial estates in Swindon and Waltham Cross and shopping areas including the Cribbs Causeway Centre in Bristol. Its interests also spread to European property, with a stake in ING Property Fund Central Europe.
What is more, the Commissioners have just gained planning permission for part of the Ashford Great Park estate, where the deputy prime minister is hoping to take time out from working on his dance moves to build some of his much-vaunted affordable housing.

The church even owns property in London's West End - 15% of its commercial portfolio, in fact, mainly within a shared interest in the Pollen estate. It has also begun to capitalise on the need for parking space in the capital, netting £19m last year from selling 99-year leases on garage spaces.

The CofE isn't neglecting property up north either. It holds a 10% interest and associated land in the MetroCentre in Gateshead, the largest shopping and leisure centre in Europe. The centre provides "shoppertainment" including an indoor theme park, an 11-screen cinema and a bewildering array of shops open seven days a week from 10am to 9pm (or 5pm on Sundays - glad to see they're showing a bit of respect). It's reassuring that the Commissioners are looking after the church's estimated £4.3bn well, returning 19.1% on their investments last year. Now all they have to do is get some of the thousands of Sunday shoppers at Gateshead into church.

[Realistbear]

laurejon, on Jul 14 2007, 10:14 AM, said:

The Church Commissioners' 56-page report on the financial state of the Church of England released yesterday, made for, well, not particularly interesting reading really. It's the sort of thing journalists read, digest and regurgitate in highly condensed form so the rest of the population can learn the main points and get on with watching The Apprentice. One of the more fascinating parts of the report, however, concerned the Anglican church's property portfolio, which comprises 120,000 acres in rural areas alone.

Article continues

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The church owns large tracts of land in cathedral cities such as Canterbury, Ely, Peterborough and York and in towns such as Huntingdon and Kelmscott. More recently, it has invested in industrial estates in Swindon and Waltham Cross and shopping areas including the Cribbs Causeway Centre in Bristol. Its interests also spread to European property, with a stake in ING Property Fund Central Europe.
What is more, the Commissioners have just gained planning permission for part of the Ashford Great Park estate, where the deputy prime minister is hoping to take time out from working on his dance moves to build some of his much-vaunted affordable housing.
The CofE isn't neglecting property up north either. It holds a 10% interest and associated land in the MetroCentre in Gateshead, the largest shopping and leisure centre in Europe. The centre provides "shoppertainment" including an indoor theme park, an 11-screen cinema and a bewildering array of shops open seven days a week from 10am to 9pm (or 5pm on Sundays - glad to see they're showing a bit of respect). It's reassuring that the Commissioners are looking after the church's estimated £4.3bn well, returning 19.1% on their investments last year. Now all they have to do is get some of the thousands of Sunday shoppers at Gateshead into church.

The church even owns property in London's West End - 15% of its commercial portfolio, in fact, mainly within a shared interest in the Pollen estate. It has also begun to capitalise on the need for parking space in the capital, netting £19m last year from selling 99-year leases on garage spaces.

Thats the plus column. How about the other side of things?

Nearly all of the C of E's property is Grade I listed and several hundreds of years old. The cost of maintaining a single Cathedral is in the millions per annum. The government do not subsidize any of it. Then there are the thousands of parish churches, all or most Grade I, which means the slightest repair work has to be submitted to a specialist architect who then runs up bills for thousands just to specify the right kind of stone and authentic mortar to carry out repairs. Repairs are constant due to the nature of the buildings and they outweigh income by a considerable margin.

Most of the land owned by the church was taken during the dissolution of the monastries period under Henry VIII. Much of what is left is attached to Grade I listed properties that have no chance of development given planning restrictions. One good thing Brown is doing is slowly dis-establishing the church from the government which suggests that they can no longer look to the church to subsidise the miracle economy.

At present retiring vicars are not all being replaced as a it costs over 40k+ per annum to field a parish priest including housing costs, salary (about 21k per annum) and pension. The giving does not cover the salaries in most parishes forcing the Diocese to draw on the property portfolio to meet the rest of the costs. The church is not VAT exempt despite being a non-profit organisation.

I would not be surprised if a balance sheet showing income vs. expenses is not heavily in the red.

[laurejon]

I was under the impression that the church received Government funding?

As discussed I have friends in farming, a great deal of farmers in the last recession sold of vast tracts of land, and this was bought up by the Church, and local councils, then the farms leased back.

Not sure if its still the case, but the Church is the UK's biggest landowner second to the queen.

If this is the case, then really we should be looking at the Church to release that land for building, in the interests of society.