A partnership between Axa Investment Management – Real Assets, Allianz and student accommodation operator and manager Scape led to the acquisition of the «Atira Student Living» portfolio, six operational assets with 3,510 student housing beds.
The diversified assets average less than two years old and are located in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide near to some top Australian universities. The student housing assets contain various room types such as studios, twin shares and cluster apartments alongside facilities like rooftop pools, game rooms, private study areas, theaters, and communal areas.
The partnership will also enable access to Scape’s «extensive development pipelines from it can selectively acquire assets», according to a release.
Australia Student Housing Conviction
The partnership follows recent moves to expand into Australian real estate including the hotel and healthcare sector. According to Kumar Kalyanakumar, head of Australia at Axa Investment Managers (IM) – Real Assets, the firm’s conviction to the real estate market is due to «attractive relative returns potential and the underlying fundamental growth drivers that support them».
With regards to the country’s student housing, Kalyanakumar underlines continued strong demand from international students for its highly ranked universities.
«Australia has the [third-largest] population of international students and has seven universities that rank in the top 100 globally,» he said. «Further, its livable cities and close economic and social ties with Southeast Asia will ensure it continues to benefit from this growing market.»
