Aware Super’s recently created Australian real estate platform seeks to build out a A$7bn (€4.7bn) portfolio within five years.
The Aware Real Estate platform will actively manage the super fund’s directly-owned living, industrial, office and mixed-use property portfolio.
Damien Webb, Aware Super deputy CIO, told IPE Real Assets: “The new platform will be an increasingly-important part of our portfolio as we bring more asset management in-house to reduce fees and deliver strong long-term returns.
“We’re aiming to increase our internally-managed portfolio across all asset classes to 50% by 2025.”
The platform has been kicked off with a A$1.7bn portfolio of 11 operational assets and a further eight assets in various stages of planning.
Aware Real Estate’s chief executive officer, Michelle McNally, said: “As it stands, industrial property accounts for the majority of our assets under management, and we also have significant investments in other sectors across living, office and mixed-use.
“Build-to-rent is a key strategic focus. We have 500 apartments in our residential portfolio already, and, with another 1,200 in the pipeline, that number will grow more than threefold in the coming years.
“Our built-to-rent strategy will support our essential worker housing programme, providing workers such as nurses and police officers with rent at 80% of the market rate.”
McNally told IPE Real Assets: “This helps us attract reliable tenants with employment stability – and keep vacancy rates low.”
She added: “We’re certainly open to investing in other sectors where we see good opportunity – while helping further diversify the portfolio.”
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