Supporting social and affordable housing has become a high priority across Australia as city housing prices continue to increase and new housing supply fails to keep up with demand.
This challenge has led to innovation in financing options, new market entrants and different models emerging to deliver social and affordable housing projects.
As the demand in this industry grows, private real estate and investment organisations are seeing social and affordable housing as a distinct class of sustainable asset and ‘build to rent’ is being considered as a partial solution to affordable housing supply.
King & Wood Mallesons has a deep relationship with the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) and we have advised on a number of projects in the community and public housing sector in multiple states across Australia. Through this experience KWM has gained an in-depth understanding of NHFIC’s financing mandate, structures and terms.
Market highlights
- Frasers Property: advising on the rights to redevelop the New South Wales Land and Housing Corporation’s social housing estate at Telopea to create 5,000 new homes with a 70/30 split between public and private housing, an A$2.2 billion project in New South Wales.
- Public Housing Renewal Project: acting for the successful bidder and NHFIC on Victoria’s latest Public Housing Renewal Project, comprising redevelopment of the old public housing towers in Flemington, Brighton and Prahran into 619 new social housing, 126 affordable housing and 365 market rental dwellings, under an innovative delivery and financing model.
- AustralianSuper: advising on its 25% investment into the Assemble affordable housing platform which uses an innovative Build-to-Rent-to-Own model for affordable housing, with rights to invest in projects initiated and developed through the Assemble pipeline.
- Frasers Property: adviser to NHFIC and Frasers Property in connection with the funding and sale of a building to Mission Australia to deliver new affordable housing. In addition, implementing a loan arrangement between NHFIC / New South Wales Land and Housing Corporation / Frasers Property to bring forward the delivery of Social Housing as part of the Ivanhoe development in New South Wales.
- Iglu: advising on the fund-through development of the student accommodation component of the A$900 million urban regeneration project at Waterloo in Sydney, New South Wales.
