Aware Super Pty, one of Australia’s largest pension funds, is hunting for more property and infrastructure deals in Europe as it opens a London office.
Favorable tax and policy settings in Europe were particularly spurring more residential opportunities, Deanne Stewart, chief executive officer of the A$160 billion ($102 billion) fund, said in an interview. The interest comes on the back of Aware’s recent acquisition of a stake in UK build-to-rent developer Get Living.
“Certainly in Europe we are wanting to do more investments in both the build-to-rent, broader property and in infrastructure,” Stewart said in an interview.
The fund is also eyeing opportunities at home, where a dearth of rental properties and collapse of construction firms has created a deepening housing crisis. Aware has committed A$1.5 billion to building 2,000 apartments over the next five years in Australia, where the build-to-rent sector is still fledgling.
“It’s been quite opportunistic,” Stewart said of the local projects. “Where there’s been dips in the market or there’s been a forced seller, we’ve been able to get in and actually get things at quite a low price.”
Australian opportunities could be harder to stack up financially. Developers of build-to-rent properties aren’t able to access favorable tax treatment that community housing providers can, meaning the costs are much higher, Stewart said.
Source : Bloomberg