Cedar Pacific CEO Bernie Armstrong says local super funds have “squandered their advantage” in the burgeoning build-to-rent (BTR) sector, after the private equity-backed developer kicked off a $500 million equity raising for its first BTR fund.

“Local super funds had a huge competitive advantage before the recent announcement [to halve the withholding tax rate imposed on foreign investors in managed investment trusts] which has removed that advantage,” Mr Armstrong told The Australian Financial Review.