GreenFort Buys Two Queensland Sites for 750 Homes Under Land Lease JV With Gaw

Australia’s GreenFort Capital has acquired two land lease projects in Queensland under its partnership with Gaw Capital Partners, adding 750 lots to the platform’s development pipeline.

Brisbane-based GreenFort purchased an inland site at Gowrie Junction in Toowoomba suitable for 422 homes and a site at Elliott Heads on the Coral Sea coast with approval in place for 328 homes, the company said Tuesday in a release. The latest buys increase the joint venture’s pipeline to more than 1,000 homes with an estimated gross value of A$750 million ($468.2 million).

Land lease communities are frequently positioned as retiree housing in Australia, with residents owning the home but leasing the land beneath it from the community operator, akin to a trailer park. Toowoomba and Elliott Heads are forecast to have a growing population with a higher-than-average share of residents over age 50, said GreenFort partner and Liven Communities co-founder Adam Vaggelas.

“Toowoomba and Elliott Heads are sought-after seniors living regions, but each face a substantial undersupply of housing due to strong population growth from an ageing local population and growing out of catchment migration from retirees seeking a tree or sea change,” Vaggelas said. “Our latest projects are well located within these two catchments, positioned close to existing services and further infrastructure either under construction or in the planning stages.”

Nearing Pipeline Goal

GreenFort and Hong Kong-based fund manager Gaw launched their joint venture last year to assemble an A$800 million pipeline of land lease community projects aimed at pensioners.

The Toowoomba and Elliott Heads projects are the third and fourth under the Liven Communities business founded in 2023 by GreenFort execs Vaggelas, Nick Singleton and Daniel Cheilyk. Gaw’s commitment is helping GreenFort expand Liven to an initial platform target of 1,200 land lease homes across the east coast of Australia.

The 25.1 hectare (62 acre) Gowrie Junction site, purchased for A$15 million, will provide a mix of two- and three-bedroom homes with access to two community recreational facilities. The 14.8 hectare Elliott Heads site, price undisclosed, is 200 metres (219 yards) from the oceanfront and will feature two- and three-bedroom homes as part of a master-planned development with a shopping centre, resort and tavern.

Liven’s first community, the 132-home Liven Beach Road in Hervey Bay, is under construction, while a second project, the 176-home Liven Willow Rise in Southside, near Gympie, is expected to commence work in the first quarter.

“We are delighted with the early market acceptance of the Liven Communities platform,” Vaggelas said. “The first stage of our Hervey Bay community was 90 percent sold within days of the project’s launch with Stage 2 also experiencing strong demand.”

Seasoned in the Sun

Queensland continues to be a hotspot for land lease, supported by a favourable climate and a reputation as a retirement destination, with the state’s over-50 population expected to grow by 40 percent by 2032, according to a Colliers report.

The Liven JV is the second for GreenFort and Gaw after the partners joined forces in 2018 on the Reside Communities retirement living platform, which has grown to more than 1,000 homes with a gross value of A$1 billion.

With nearly $36 billion in assets under management, Gaw jumped into land lease after Singapore sovereign fund GIC exited its investment in community operator Serenitas in a deal announced in October 2023.

Mirvac Group joined with local private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners to buy out Serenitas and its 27 land lease communities for A$1 billion. GIC had acquired what is now Serenitas from a Blackstone venture five years earlier.