Mingtiandi

Asia real estate and outbound investment news

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Sign Up / Login Logout

Lost your password?
Register
Forgotten Password
Cancel

Register For This Site

A password will be e-mailed to you.

  • Capital Markets
  • Events
    • Mingtiandi 2024 APAC Real Estate Event Calendar
    • Mingtiandi APAC Residential Forum 2024
    • Mingtiandi Hong Kong Forum 2024
    • Mingtiandi APAC Logistics Forum 2024
    • Mingtiandi Singapore Forum 2024
    • Mingtiandi APAC Data Centre Forum 2024
    • Mingtiandi Japan VIP Conference 2024
    • More Events
  • MTD TV
  • People
    • Industry Moves
    • MTD TV Speakers
  • Logistics
  • Data Centres
  • Asia Outbound
  • Retail
  • Research & Policy
  • Advertise

Greystar Announces $450M First Close of China Rental Housing Fund

2019/02/19 by Michael Cole Leave a Comment

Charles Ma Greystar

Greystar brought on board former Vanke exec Charles Ma to run its China operation in 2017

US apartment developer and operator Greystar Real Estate Partners announced late yesterday that a joint venture platform it established last year with a unit of Australia’s Macquarie Group had reached a $450 million first close of its first Asia rental housing fund with support from a pair of European fund managers.

South Carolina-based Greystar, which set up Greystar Asia Pacific last year in partnership with MIRA Real Estate, a division of Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) reached the funding milestone through new agreements with Dutch fund managers APG Asset Management NV and Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors, according to an announcement from the company.

The venture by the US firm, which has approximately $26 billion in assets under management globally, and its Australian and European partners, aims to profit from the development of the multi-family rental market in China and across Asia Pacific, as an increasingly mobile professional class and rising housing prices create demand for professionally managed rental properties in the region’s growing cities.

Fund Set to Kick-Off First Project in Shanghai

Immediately following acceptance of the new capital commitments, the partnership will close on the fund’s initial investment, a property located within Shanghai’s inner ring road that Greystar aims to reposition as a rental property targetted at executives in the city.

“We are in the process of building a vertically integrated local team with specialists in development, investment and operations unique in this market. The team will be locally managed but supported by Greystar’s global team, network, and capital,” said Charles Ma, Managing Director for Greystar in China. “Our investment strategy will allow us to develop a significant rental housing pipeline in China and grow our platform to realize the tremendous opportunity we see in the region.”

This first investment, the details of which have not yet been disclosed, fits into what Greystar says is the fund’s objectives of investing in high-quality assets in top-tier Chinese markets. The new partners are initially focusing on Shanghai, owing to the city’s attractive rental housing supply and demand fundamentals, according to Greystar, which set up offices in the mainland commercial hub in 2017.

“China is an extraordinarily compelling growth market for rental housing investment today and is notably lacking in quality housing for the wave of renter demand driven by the rapid growth of urban market populations and incomes,” Wes Fuller, leader of Greystar’s global Investment Management business said in a statement.

Jumping into a Fast-Growing Sector

Greystar project

A Greystar project in Reston, Virginia

Greystar established its Asia-Pacific rental housing platform with MIRA Real Estate as mainland authorities have been supporting the rental housing market by favouring multi-family projects in land sales and working to establish rental-friendly regulatory and financing conditions.

Over the past two years some of the world’s largest private equity firms and pension fund managers have jumped into the mainland rental housing market in response to the maturing market and policy support.

Warburg Pincus has backed both Nova Properties, a rental developer which has significant investment from Singapore’s GIC, and Mofang, a leasing platform that focuses on management. Canada’s CPPIB has gone directly into the sector through a $817 million partnership with developer Longfor Group and Hong Kong’s Gaw Capital Partners last year teamed with Shanghai-based Harbour Apartments in setting up a $2.6 billion rental housing fund of their own.

Greystar Finds Experienced Partners

In teaming with APG, Bouwinvest and MIRA, Greystar, which is among the largest multi-family developers and managers globally, is making its first play in Asia Pacific with investors that are already deeply involved in the region.

Graeme Torre APG

Graeme Torre’s team at APG is backing the new rental housing fund

“APG is already a long-term investor in rented residential strategies in both Europe and the U.S. We expect this sector to establish itself very quickly as an institutional asset class throughout Asia-Pacific,” said Graeme Torre, APG’s Head of Private Real Estate Asia-Pacific. “Partnering with Greystar and Macquarie at the platform level provides the ability for us to consider the sector on a regional basis.

As of October 2018 the Amsterdam-based pension fund manager was responsible for €471 billion ($532.2 billion) in assets for over 25,000 employers. APG has a history of investing some of this capital in Asian real estate including a significant stake in warehouse developer ESR, as well as investments with Shanghai-based developer Chongbang Group and investing $175 million in a Japan multi-family venture with UBS in December last year.

Bouwinvest, which has €778 million in Asia Pacific real estate assets under management according to its website, has a history of backing multi-family schemes, having joined TH Real Estate (now Nuveen Real Estate) and Kenedix in setting up a $1 billion Tokyo multi-family fund in May last year, and then investing around $150 million in multi-family projects in New York and Los Angeles in August of 2018.

“Bouwinvest has extensive experience investing in and managing rental housing, both through our flagship fund in the Netherlands and our international investments globally, Tjarko Edzes, Director for Asia-Pacific Investments for Bouwinvest said. “This investment in the China multifamily sector builds on that track record and is highly complementary to our recent investment in a rental housing portfolio in central Tokyo.”

Now the new partners say that they will work together to establish the “pre-eminent, vertically integrated owner, developer, and operator of rental housing in Asia-Pacific.”

Share this now

  • LinkedIn
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email

Filed Under: Finance Tagged With: APG Asset Management, Bouwinvest, daily-sp, Featured, Greystar, highlight, rental housing, Shanghai

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get Mingtiandi Delivered

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

MTD TV

mtd tv debt panel
Developer Crisis Creates Opportunities For Credit Investors: MTD TV
Data Centre Operators Tackle APAC Expansion Challenges in MTD TV Panel

More MTD TV Videos>>

People in the News

Mandy Qian of Cushman & Wakefield
C&W Promotes Mandy Qian to Lead Greater China Business Development
Tom Gaffney
CBRE Promotes Tom Gaffney to President of North Asia Advisory, Succeeding Ben Duncan
Mi Tao CIC
Asia Real Estate People in the News 2023-11-27
Michael Smith Hongkong Land
Hongkong Land Names Mapletree’s Smith Chief Executive as Office Slump Continues

More Industry Professionals>>

People in the News

C&W Promotes Mandy Qian to Lead Greater China Business Development

Mandy Qian of Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield has promoted Mandy Qian to head of business development services for Greater China, taking over … Read More>>

CBRE Promotes Tom Gaffney to President of North Asia Advisory, Succeeding Ben Duncan

Tom Gaffney

CBRE has elevated Tom Gaffney to president of the firm’s North Asia advisory business, with the post’s current holder, … Read More>>

Asia Real Estate People in the News 2023-11-27

Mi Tao CIC

China’s sovereign fund leads Mingtiandi’s review of personnel moves from around Asia this week with news that CIC’s head … Read More>>

Hongkong Land Names Mapletree’s Smith Chief Executive as Office Slump Continues

Michael Smith Hongkong Land

The biggest landlord in Hong Kong’s Central district is headed to a second straight year of declining profits and the … Read More>>

More Industry Professionals>>

Latest Stories

ian-schilling invesco
Invesco, Alyssa Buy 15 Japanese Apartment Assets in Latest Bed Bet
Jeffrey Shen of ESR
China’s Taikang Insurance Takes 95% Stake in $288M ESR Warehouse Fund
Monetary Authority of Singapore chief Ravi Menon
Singapore Central Bank Sees Home Prices, Rents Cooling as Housing Supply Grows

Sponsored Features

Macquarie Asset Management Confident in Continuing Rise of APAC Logistics
Asia Pacific a Dominant Source of Global Capital
Crystal Investment and SOCAM Form Proptech VC Firm

More Sponsored Features>>

Connect with Mingtiandi

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Real Estate News

  • Capital Markets
  • 2023 Event Calendar
  • MTD TV Archives
  • People
  • Logistics
  • Data Centres
  • Asia Outbound
  • Retail

More Mingtiandi

  • About Mingtiandi
  • Contact Mingtiandi
  • Mingtiandi Membership
  • Newsletter Subscription
  • Advertise
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Join the Mingtiandi Team


© 2007-2023 China Advertising Media Ltd (Samoa). All rights reserved.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.