Australia: Investment giant Blackstone is looking to step up its investment in Australia’s BTR sector according to global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate, Kathleen McCarthy.
The statement comes as Blackstone looks to increase its exposure to sources of inflation-beating growth in rental income.
“Just about everywhere we invest and through the data – not only in our real estate portfolio but of course to our whole Blackstone ecosystem – we do see inflation metrics rolling over, coming down, which we think is a positive sign,” McCarthy told the Australian Financial review. “But the great news for us is that we have been preparing for a higher interest rate, higher inflation environment for a very long time.”
As a result, Blackstone has directed its real estate investment into warehouses, rental housing, hospitality and life sciences accommodation. Those areas constitute about 80 per cent of its real estate portfolio.
“These are all asset classes where we are able to drive strong cash flow growth, which really helping to mitigate an environment where there’s downward pressure on valuation multiples,” said McCarthy, speaking from Blackstone’s new Sydney office at Deutsche Bank Place.
Blackstone has AUD$23 billion of investments under management and a staff of 55 in Australia. So far, it has invested in just two BTR projects – one in Melbourne’s southeast and the other at Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point, but intends to build on that significantly. “We would love to find opportunities to do more if we can,” said McCarthy.
