Wayhome is featured as giving first-time buyers a leg up on the ladder as an alternative to a UK government scheme called...
Invest in Wayhome
View the webinar with Wayhome CEO Nigel Purves.
“Wayhome provides a new way to for people to access homeownership, with its pioneering part-own part-rent system,” said Anthemis on its investment in Wayhome. First time buyer customers can borrow up to eight times their household income, avoiding the usual ‘starter’ or ‘first-time buyer’ sized properties, and live in a bigger home, in a desirable neighborhood, more suited to their lifestyle or family situation.
Read more about Wayhome's progress in the news:
Problem
Both people and institutions are locked out of homeownership
For most people, owning a home is now a distant dream.
With house prices rising significantly faster than wages, and aspiring homeowners not able to borrow enough with mortgages, more people than ever before are locked out of homeownership in the UK.
Even institutional investors are struggling to break into the market. They own less than 1% of residential property, which is the UK’s largest single asset class.
To understand why so many people and organizations are standing on the sidelines, let's dive deeper into the two groups.
Aspiring Homeowners
Average UK house prices hit a record £296K in August 2022, £36K higher than the same month a year earlier, a 13.6% rise.
With house prices outstripping wage growth, an average full-time worker in England has to spend more than nine times their annual salary on a home, more than double the level of just over four times in 2000.
Additionally, half of the areas across England did not build enough homes over the past decade, forcing people into house shares and limiting migration to major cities.
Without a realistic way to finance a move onto the property ladder, countless people are stuck renting the same kind of homes they‘re prevented from buying.
Institutional Investors
Although real estate is a well-known asset class that has been used to build wealth for centuries and defend against inflation, many institutional investors in the UK find it difficult to maintain their real estate portfolios.
Existing opportunities to invest are heavily reliant on unpredictable short rental periods, which result in less predictable cash flows, and maintenance and management costs continue to skyrocket, making it a minefield to navigate.
Solution
Meet Wayhome: Helping aspiring homeowners get onto the property ladder
Wayhome offers a hybrid solution where customers buy a proportion of the home, at least 5%, and pay rent on the rest. The Gradual Homeownership scheme allows people to invest in the housing market as they can afford it and provides them with security of tenure. This part-buy part-rent model is much more flexible for homebuyers, who can buy more of their home whenever they’re ready to.
Product
Wayhome is well-positioned to buy properties at scale
Utilising its Gradual Homeownership platform, Wayhome has streamlined the buying process enabling aspiring homeowners to be acquired, qualified and matched with great properties before getting them into their dream homes.
All of this means Wayhome is well-positioned to buy properties at scale, capitalising on the huge demand from hopeful homeowners to buy a home of their own and rapidly deploy funds from its institutional investment partners.
Traction
~£1M annualised revenue & 50% MoM growth in the first 12 months
Since launching in September 2021, Wayhome has already closed on 100 homes for its customers and has offers accepted on near to 100 more, which are currently going through the buying process.
Additionally, the company has raised an initial £75m in investment from UK pension funds to buy homes together with its customers, resulting in an estimated potential of £30k lifetime value per home over 12 years.
Customers
Business model
Substantial, contractual & sticky revenues
Unlike other homeownership options, Wayhome doesn't charge customers any fees at any point. Instead, the company earns money from the institutional investors that invest in its homes, meaning the revenue is contractual and long-term.
Two types of fees are charged to these investors:
Fee on the completed purchase of each property. While Wayhome deploys the initial £75m fund this fee is 1%, but thereafter it will be 2%.
Annual management fee of 0.8% for each year that the customer lives in the home.
Competition
Wayhome has a competitive edge
Given the numerous pain points plaguing the UK real estate market, it's no surprise that more proptech companies have popped up in recent years.
London-based Proportunity uses machine learning to provide homebuyers with a home purchase equity loan, while Generation Home puts a new spin on guarantor mortgages, which largely helps structure financial help from family/friends.
However, Wayhome stands out from the crowd as the only provider of their home buying model and because it offers aspiring homeowners the biggest buying budget without putting them in a position that would become unaffordable.
Vision and strategy
Wayhome is gaining momentum
Funding
Backed by renowned fund managers and investment consultants
Team
Meet the Team
Nigel Purves, CEO and co-founder, started his career in management consulting at OC&C in the depths of the global financial crisis in 2008. After leaving the firm, he ventured out into the startup world and served as COO of TicketText. During this time, Nigel learned how to code and built a property technology platform that enabled landlords to rent directly to tenants, marking the origin of Wayhome.
Nigel is supported by a team that possesses years of experience in property, home finance, and investment. Members hail from both startups (e.g. Trussle) and corporations (e.g. Kensington Mortgages), resulting in a mix of entrepreneurial and corporate talent.
Summary
Wayhome has pioneered an entirely new category of homeownership
After reaching c. £1m annualised revenue,
the company is raising £6m to leverage their
advantages & supercharge growth
Disclaimers
In addition to the carried interest Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC is entitled to for the syndicated investments it organizes, certain principals of Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC may have a personal interests in these investments, as disclosed below. When making an investment decision please review any applicable disclosures as they represent pre-existing financial interests held by those principals of Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC.
We do not represent that the information contained herein is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Certain information contained herein (including any forward-looking statements and economic and market information) has been obtained from and/or prepared by Wayhome or other third-party sources and in certain cases has not been updated through the date hereof. While such sources are believed to be reliable, Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information. Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein as of any future date.