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Build-to-rent

This Month

There’s not a lot of new supply coming on in Sydney, so occupancy rates and room rates will keep rising.

5 opportunities for commercial property investing in 2025

Sydney hotels, data centres and regional shopping centres are among the segments tipped to grow next year.

  • Sam Tamblyn
Local development in Kensington, Shemara Wikramanayake, Dan McLennan, Matt Berg, Andrew Irvine.

New tax laws no silver bullet for build-to-rent, NAB warns

Last week’s legislation halving the tax rate for foreign investors is a good start, but rival Macquarie agrees other factors also drag on projects.

  • Michael Bleby

October

Stockland’s Tarun Gupta, right, says he his company has cut land sizes by about 15 per cent to make them more affordable.

Doing more with less will not solve the housing crisis

Building costs have stopped rising quickly, but could easily take off again if builders are bidding for labour and materials against our other good causes.

  • Anthony Macdonald

October

Giant $1.5b build-to-rent housing project slated for Marrickville

The massive project is put forward as a state significant development. Fully funded, work can begin as soon as approval is granted by the NSW government.

  • Nick Lenaghan
Urban Property has capitalised on the state government’s need for more housing by convincing it to give approval for a pivot from an office tower to a residential one.

NSW’s new planning rules swap unloved offices for 450 homes

The state government’s powers clear the way to seize planning controls of “unreasonably delayed” sites.

  • Campbell Kwan
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Artist’s render of Lendlease’s 499-unit BTR project planned for 899 Collins Street in Melbourne’s Docklands, in which Nippon Steel Kowa Real Estate has taken a 40 per cent stake. 

Lendlease signs Japanese partner for $500m build-to-rent tower

Lendlease is pairing Australia’s housing development demand with the investment needs of companies like Nippon Steel Kowa Real Estate to back its own turnaround.

  • Michael Bleby
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Hines have acquired a 265-unit build-to-rent asset at 13-17 Cordelia Street in South Brisbane in South Brisbane (pictured), due for completion next year, along with an existing 89-unit apartment building in at 28 Robertson Street in Fortitude Valley in a $350 million deal. 

Ontario Teachers, Hines buy two BTR projects in Brisbane for $350m

Despite headwinds in the build-to-rent sector, institutional investors remain interested and a wave of consolidation is under way.

  • Michael Bleby

September

Build-to-rent units to dominate this major city in three years

Build-to-rent apartments will overtake the supply of build-to-sell apartments in the next three years amid rising construction costs, according to Charter Keck Cramer.

  • Nila Sweeney
New apartment volumes will nearly double, if conditions are right, Oxford Economics Australia says.

Apartments will boost housing numbers – if they’re viable

Conditions are improving and developers are dusting off plans and preparing new projects. But it’s not yet clear if they will all go ahead.

  • Michael Bleby

Build-to-rent sector faces wave of consolidation

Rising costs and limited capital could force some operators in the sector to exit the market.

  • Nila Sweeney
Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo, right, with AFR columnist James Thomson on stage at the Financial Review Property Summit.

Lendlease chief says critics ‘got it 80 per cent right’

Under pressure from major investors like John Wylie and David Di Pilla, the country’s largest property group is selling more than $4.5 billion in assets

  • Michael Bleby

August

Is rent-to-own a better option than build-to-rent?

Build-to-rent can provide housing at scale, but some like Sydney architect James Alexander-Hatziplis believe there should also be a pathway to homeownership.

  • Larry Schlesinger

Deals in build-to-rent market ready for lift-off, says US giant

Build-to-rent housing is potentially a big contributor in efforts to plug the country’s chronic housing shortfall which has sent rents skyrocketing.

  • Nick Lenaghan

July

Aerial shot of the Paris 2024 Athletes Village.

A solution to the athletes village conundrum might be on the Gold Coast

Paris’ capital-light infrastructure plan for the 2024 Olympics has been a great success. But plans to turn the village into new housing faces a new hurdle.

  • Michael Bleby

June

The now-complete 198-unit build-to-rent-to-own development at 15 Thompson Street in inner-suburban Melbourne’s Kensington is the first of five planned projects that AustralianSuper is funding with developer Assemble.

Why AustralianSuper isn’t investing in build to rent

The head of the country’s largest industry super fund says risk and scale are crucial factors for any investment it considers – and that’s an issue with BTR.

  • Michael Bleby
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Affluent niche: Developments targeting the downsizer market are booming.

Apartment sales boom – in the $1 million-plus price range

Soaring materials and financing costs are making most apartment projects unviable. But there’s a niche of the development market that is booming.

  • Michael Bleby

May

Matt Carolan in Sydney, where his new platform will focus its initial efforts.

Dutch pension fund giant puts $700m into Sydney build-to-rent start-up

Apt.Residential has won the backing of PGGM, which has committed $700m to the rollout of 2500 apartments.

  • Larry Schlesinger
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan (centre) with Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny in Melbourne on Monday.

Victoria open to tax breaks to boost home building

Premier Jacinta Allan says her Labor government is open to pulling every lever available to boost housing supply, after developers called for taxation tweaks to boost investment.

  • Gus McCubbing
Foreign investment into rental housing could help ease the supply squeeze.

FIRB changes are fine but please fix tax: investors

Changes to the foreign investment regime to boost investment in rental housing may count for little if tax settings remain a handbrake.

  • Nick Lenaghan and Larry Schlesinger

April

The proposed block includes more than 200 build-to-rent apartments and retail space.

BTR push in Sydney’s west gains steam despite flood risks

The NSW planning department concluded that increasing housing supply outweighed potential risks such as flooding for one BTR project.

  • Campbell Kwan

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/build-to-rent-1mz8