McCarthy & Stone, Britain's biggest builder of homes for retired people, said its listing on the London Stock Exchange has been priced at 180 pence per share, valuing the business at £967 million.

The company said it would raise £90m from the initial public offering (IPO) to help fund investment in land and construction projects in the next four years.

McCarthy & Stone's listing comes at a time when an acute shortage of housing property in the UK has steeply pushed up prices.

As many investors begin to view traditional property stocks as too highly priced their yield hunt is making them keener on tangential areas such as student housing, retirement homes and the private rental sector.

The company was previously listed in London for 22 years before being taken private through a £1.1 billion pound deal in 2006 by a consortium led by Halifax Bank of Scotland and including Sir Tom Hunter and the Reuben brothers.

It was later taken over by a consortium of private investors including Goldman Sachs and TPG.

The IPO offer comprises about 186.9 million shares, or about 35 per cent of its issued share capital on admission, McCarthy & Stone said.