M&G Real Estate buys A$215m Melbourne rental tower for Asia Living fund
UK property investor M&G Real Estate has acquired a 17-storey, 215-unit luxury rental apartment tower in Melbourne for A$215 million (S$158 million), its first build-to-rent asset under the Asia Living Property platform. The property, developed by partner Novus, sits next to Anzac station and brings
UK property investor M&G Real Estate has acquired a newly completed 215-unit luxury rental apartment tower next to Melbourne's Anzac metro station for A$215 million (S$158 million), lifting the value of assets in its Asia Living Property platform to about S$500 million. The 17-storey Bowen Crescent development was built by M&G's Australian build-to-rent partner Novus, and becomes the first build-to-rent asset in its Asia Living Property strategy, through which the company is assembling a residential portfolio that now spans multi-family housing, purpose-built student accommodation, land lease communities and senior living, M&G said in a statement on Tuesday. The price translates to A$1 million per apartment.
Completed last month, Bowen Crescent offers around 26,000 square metres (279,900 square feet) of gross floor area. The building has one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, and amenities include co-working space, a gym, a swimming pool, a sauna and a cold plunge. The property sits about 150 metres from Anzac station and about two kilometres south of Melbourne's city centre in the St Kilda Road precinct. The station opened on Melbourne's new Metro Tunnel rail line at the end of November last year.
Bowen Crescent is also close to Melbourne's arts precinct and within walking distance of Albert Park, a 49 hectare artificial lake surrounded by a 4.7 kilometre running and cycling path. The tower is also on the city's tram network, with regular services to Melbourne's city centre, the seaside suburb of St Kilda and the city's inner-city suburbs. The leasing site for Novus, which markets the building as Novus on Bowen, shows asking rents starting at A$775 a week for a one-bedroom, A$920 for a two-bedroom and A$1,680 for a three-bedroom unit.
Institutional demand for assets in Australia's living sector has been rising, with the country ranking as the most preferred living investment destination in Asia Pacific ahead of Japan, according to a Cushman & Wakefield survey. Melbourne's rental vacancy rate remains around 1 per cent, and strong population growth continues to support demand for rental accommodation in the city, M&G said. “Australia stands out as a market where demand for professionally managed rental housing continues to grow, supported by strong demographic trends,” said JD Lai, chief executive and chief investment officer of M&G Real Estate Asia. “Bowen Crescent is a high-quality asset in one of Australia's strongest residential markets.”
Novus bought the site at 2 Bowen Crescent in 2023 with an existing permit for a 214-unit build-to-sell scheme. Rothelowman Architects redesigned the project for rental use, and the City of Port Phillip council approved the amended plans in February 2024. M&G first committed A$450 million to Novus in April 2022 through a develop-to-core partnership. That commitment bought a 95 per cent stake in the Novus Build-to-Rent Trust, which was seeded with the 173-unit Novus on Sturt in Melbourne's Southbank arts precinct.
M&G said Bowen Crescent is the sixth investment for its Asia Pacific living strategy in less than two years. The strategy's holdings include multifamily housing in Japan and South Korea, as well as student accommodation and land lease communities in Australia. Globally, M&G Real Estate manages more than S$9 billion in living sector strategies. The land lease holdings came through a partnership with Stockland announced in March, under which M&G took a 49.9 per cent stake in two retirement communities in Melbourne's southeast, which are expected to deliver 573 homes.
