Bank, super chiefs to join Labor’s housing roundtable

The business and investment leaders will meet with Jim Chalmers to discuss ways to bolster private investment in the housing sector.

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA NewsWire Photos OCTOBER 26, 2022: Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke with morning TV programs the day after the 2022 Budget was handed down, at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The chief executives of Australia’s major banks and superannuation funds will meet with Jim Chalmers in Sydney on Friday to discuss ways to bolster private investment in the housing sector.

The business and investment leaders will meet in what is expected to be the first of the investor roundtables under the Albanese government, to look at ways to attract private capital into areas deemed to be national priorities.

The federal Treasurer said Friday’s meeting would bring together “some of the nation’s most influential investors” to discuss ways to direct more institutional investment into the housing sector.

Other meetings will focus on directing private sector capital into the transition to clean energy and increasing the digitisation of the Australian economy.

“We’ve identified a number of areas where we think Australians can benefit most from more targeted, institutional investment in our national priorities including housing supply and affordability, the energy transition, manufacturing and the digital economy,” Mr Chalmers said.

“Starting with housing (on Friday), we will work closer than ever before with leading investors, major banks, global asset managers and superannuation funds to promote stronger investment in these priority areas.”

Bank executives attending the meeting include CBA chief executive Matt Comyn, ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott, Westpac chief executive Peter King, NAB chief executive Ross McEwan and Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake.

Other attendees include Future Fund chief executive Raphael Arndt, IFM Investors chairman Greg Combet, AustralianSuper chief executive Paul Schroder, Cbus chair Wayne Swan, Rest Super chief executive Vicki Doyle, HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey, the incoming chair of the Australian Retirement Trust Andrew Fraser and Aware Super chief executive Deanne Stewart.

Other executives include BlackRock Australia chief Andrew Landman, Insignia Financial chief executive Renato Mota, and Colonial First State chief executive Kelly Power.

The meeting follows the announcement in the federal budget of a National Housing Accord to look at ways to end the country’s housing crisis, with a particular focus on developing new affordable housing.

The meetings of high-level bankers and institutional investors to invest in national priority areas was announced by the Treasurer several months ago.

The suggestion that the country’s $3.3 trillion super fund sector be asked to consider investments in sectors such as affordable housing and the energy transition has raised some concerns that the funds need to prioritise investment returns for their members and should not be pressured into making non-economic social investments.

But the industry superannuation sector and others have been looking at developing new models for investment in sectors such as affordable housing, in ways which can have commercial returns.

Mr Chalmers said the meeting was aimed at bringing leaders of some of the country’s largest investment and financial institutions together “after a decade of division and drift.”

“This is about delivering strong returns for shareholders and strong returns for Australians,” he said.

“By working together, we can ensure Australian capital is invested in Australian priorities in a way that’s in shareholders’ and members’ best interests.”

The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), which is to be renamed Housing Australia, is expected to play a key role in developing links between the community housing sector and superannuation fund investors.

The organisation has been charged with delivering an additional 30,000 homes in connection with the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).

It will also oversee plans announced in the budget for another 10,000 social and affordable houses over a five-year period from 2024.

Construction industry superannuation fund Cbus, has already invested some $150m in bonds raised by NHFIC to fund social and affordable housing projects around the country.

In a recent interview with The Australian, NHFIC chief executive Nathan Dal Bon — who will also attend Friday’s meeting — said the government was “very keen to leverage institutional capital” into the affordable housing sector.

But he said the government would need to “work with institutional investors to get the parameters right to enable them to invest into the sector.”

Cbus chief executive Justin Arter told the Australian that there was the potential to develop a new asset class to direct investment into the affordable housing sector.

He said there was a need for superfunds to be able to get a good commercial return relative to the risk.

The meeting comes as health industry super fund HESTA this week announced a $240m investment in the build to rent market, seeding a new fund manager to develop a pipeline of build to rent projects.

The meeting is expected to see the setting up of working groups to look at specific aspects of the financing and delivery of more affordable housing.