Chris BaldwinResidential & House Builders Lead Partner |
Chris leads the Residential Real Estate team at Drivers Jonas Deloitte. He has gained a wealth of experience through almost 20 years’ work in real estate, the last 18 of which have seen him specialise in the residential sector.
Chris’s background is in real estate valuation. Whilst his skills and experience now extend far beyond traditional valuation, it is this discipline that continues to form the backbone of much of Chris’s work. With his team Chris advises an array of clients acting primarily through England and Wales – every year the Drivers Jonas Deloitte Residential team values in excess of 50,000 housing units alone reporting total values of more than £5bn.
From an initial focus on advising Housing Associations and Registered Providers, Chris has successfully diversified his business – his team now advises:
- Banks and Building Societies on the value of residential property, residential development land and residential investment portfolios for loan security purposes;
- Landowners and Developers on the value of their sites for balance sheet purposes;
- Residential Investors on the potential value of their residential investment properties either for acquisitions or disposals, loan security or balance sheet purposes; and
- Landowners and Developers on the viability of their development proposals from an affordable housing perspective.
Chris has developed strong relationships with many of the major lenders in the residential sector including Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, Barclays Bank and HSBC plc. Beyond this, Chris regularly advises corporate investors, developers and landowners with clients including L&G, London & Regional, Triathlon Homes, Standard Life, Assettrust Housing, Choices for Grahame Park and Housing 21.
The Drivers Jonas merger with Deloitte gave Chris an unparalleled opportunity to develop his service offering. Through the past two years Chris has been a lead real estate advisor on several large-scale strategic residential projects including:
- The preparation of a long-term strategy for a portfolio of defaulting residential mortgages on behalf of a major lender;
- The acquisition of a bank’s entire real estate loan book by a private equity company; and
- Analysis and preparation for the potential creation of the UK’s first Residential and Social Housing REITs.
Due Diligence
This is an expanding area of business for Chris. Building on linkages across the wider Deloitte firm Chris has led a number of significant due diligence exercises analysing large-scale housebuilders on behalf of major lenders. Such work may include detailed reviews of key business plan and development assumptions around pricing, revenue, sales performance, construction costs, development programme and planning obligations.
Expert Witness
Chris has acted as an expert witness in residential real estate matters. Most notably, Chris represented Bristol City Council through claims against their compulsory acquisition of Tollgate House as part of the Cabot Circus development undertaken by Land Securities and Hammerson. Chris provided evidence to the Lands Tribunal covering the valuation of the Claimant’s proposed residential scheme.
Student Housing
Chris set up and heads the firm’s Student Housing business and is co-author of the annual Student Housing Crane Survey. He also developed and oversees the maintenance of the firm’s Student Housing database that comprises details of over 490,000 purpose built bedspaces in student halls of residence.
Chris provides loan security advice on behalf of Banks and Building Societies of Student Housing schemes and advises investors and operators on the acquisition and disposal of Student Housing property.
Research Papers
Chris has written a number of thought leadership pieces including the “Valuation of Affordable Housing Land” on behalf of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and “A Valuation for all Seasons” – a practical guide to the valuation of affordable housing for the National Housing Federation.
For further information, contact Chris Baldwin.
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