Scape Australia, APG and Ivanhoé Cambridge agree new student housing venture

Australian student housing operator Scape Australia has expanded its relationships with APG Asset Management and Ivanhoé Cambridge with a new development partnership.

The new joint venture has been seeded with a development opportunity of 1,000 purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) apartments at Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne.

This new partnership is Scape Australia’s third development joint venture and also deepens its relationship with Dutch pensions manager APG and Canadian investor Ivanhoé Cambridge.

Graeme Torre, the head of Asia Pacific real estate at APG, said: “The strategy to develop and operate PBSA properties in key gateway cities in Australia is entirely in line with the urbanisation megatrend, which also aligns with our sustainability aspirations.” 

“The PBSA sector is often considered the entry level for young renters in the residential sector and as a consequence helps address important issue such as housing affordability and availability.”

Torre added that APG has had a “very successful partnership with the Scape team who have proven themselves to be capable of developing and managing first-class student accommodation assets”.

George Agethen, Ivanhoé Cambridge’s Asia Pacific head, said: “This investment allows us to participate in the institutionalisation of the living sector in APAC and support the provision of well-managed, high-quality housing for students.

“The exposure to this development JV complements our recent investment in Scape Core Program and will further diversify our APAC portfolio with defensive cashflows that are driven by the favourable demographics in the region and the demand for quality education in Australia.”

Stephen Gaitanos, co-founder and CEO of Scape Australia, said: “We are excited to have high-calibre global investors APG and Ivanhoé Cambridge partner with us again in the PBSA sector, for our third develop-to-core JV, following the successful journey we have been on for purpose-built student housing over the past 10 years.

“This comes at a very exciting time with our current portfolio at full occupancy and a clear need for more well-designed and located rental accommodation in Australia. We look forward to continuing to grow this new venture and development pipeline on our pathway as Australia’s largest end-to-end specialist residential rental and operating accommodation platform.”

 “Through our vertically integrated platform we manage every aspect of the asset creation process and ongoing operations – a platform designed to ensure the communities we create and manage provide exceptional outcomes for both our (student) residents and investors.”

Craig Carracher, co-founder of Scape Australia, said: “Our ambition is to democratise the rental market for students and other renters alike by leveraging our operational scale and delivering inspired intelligent design experiences at value.

“As the leading local operator in the residential for rent sector, we have a clear and scalable value proposition for PBSA and rental housing in Australia and are proud to partner with APG and Ivanhoé Cambridge – both global leading investors in the living sector, for our third PBSA development JV in Australia.”

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