Round Hill Capital buys large portfolio of homes in the Netherlands

It will come as a boom for the Dutch government, which has plans to encourage international investors to buy tens of thousands of homes in the country.

CBRE manages property portfolios for Dutch institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurers. Van Dijk en ten Cate advised CBRE Global Investors on the deal in cooperation with Capital Value.

The portfolio includes 1,534 homes throughout the country, and marks Round Hill's first venture into the Dutch residential market.

House prices in the Netherlands are only now starting to recover from a 20% fall over the last six years. Dramatic drops in property values during the financial crisis throughout the euro zone have attracted U.S. and U.K. private-equity firms that focus on distressed assets.

Round Hill has a fund set up to make further acquisitions of residential property in the Netherlands. The firm has acquired 50,000 units in Germany during the last seven years.

Foreign firms have tended to steer clear of the Dutch residential market, but there are high-level efforts under way to lure them. Dutch housing minister Stef Blok has traveled to the U.K. and Germany to meet potential investors, and has plans for a similar roadshow in the U.S. this autumn. Eight large Dutch institutional fund managers recently commissioned a report highlighting the opportunities for international investors.

There are other signs activity is increasing. The property-investment arm of  BNP Paribas, BNP.FR +0.18% a French bank, made its first-ever acquisition of Dutch residential property in April, paying €40 million for a 265-apartment portfolio. German real-estate investor Catella AEG is planning to raise €150 million dedicated to the Dutch residential market as soon as July.

Stichting Vestia Groep, a Dutch housing association, in May accepted bids for a massive 6,595-unit portfolio. The deal is expected to finish this summer.