Australia: Dutch pension fund asset manager PGGM has partnered with US operator Sentinel Real Estate to develop and manage BTR assets in Australia.
PGGM’s first investment tranche opens up a pipeline of over A$700 million (€500 million) in initial development potential for the venture which aims to develop a national portfolio of around 2,500 BTR units.
Jikke de Wit, senior director private real estate of PGGM, said: “Although the Australian BTR sector is still relatively small, we believe that it will grow over time and become an important part of the Australian housing market. Sentinel is a longtime partner of PGGM in the US, and we are confident their expertise will help us build a new portfolio of high-quality, low carbon apartment communities (in Australia).”
“The sustainability of this investment contributes to our client PFZW’s long-term ambition to align its real estate investments with the Paris Climate Agreement,” he added.
Sentinel has been active in the Australian BTR market since 2012, and opened its first BTR apartments in Perth in March 2019.
Michael Streicker, president of Sentinel Real Estate, said: “We have earmarked two projects for the platform, and they would provide around 250 units each. We started looking at this market in 2012 and bought our first sites in 2015. So far, our experience has been great. We have tremendous acceptance, great occupancy and rental growth. It has worked out better than we thought it would when we started 10 years ago.”
Earlier this month, PGGM acquired a Spanish PBSA portfolio.
