Clear strategy in bricks and mortar
Direct property fund
Winner
Charter Hall Direct Office Fund
Finalists
Cromwell Riverpark Trust
Australian Unity Healthcare Property Trust
The Charter Hall Direct Office Fund’s clear investment strategy of investing in quality Australian office properties and actively managing them to increase their value and income growth prospects has seen the fund nab the top prize in the direct property fund category.
With 10 office buildings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and with $19 billion in funds under management in the Charter Hall Group, the firm said it aimed to attract and retain quality tenants on long-term leases with structured rental increases for stable tax-advantaged income.
Head of direct property, Steven Bennett said: “The key characteristics of long weighted average lease expiry (WALE), 100 per cent occupancy, exposure to the strategic markets of Sydney and Melbourne accounting for over 75 per cent of the fund’s portfolio, conservative gearing, and high quality tenants, is emblematic of our approach to property investing”.
Finalist, Australian Unity applies a philosophy of investing in long-term, stable income stream with the opportunity for capital growth.
The Healthcare Property Trust comprises of hospitals, and medical centres.
Head of healthcare property, Chris Smith said the fund invests in both brownfield and greenfield developments in Victoria, NSW, and Queensland.
“That means we don’t have to pay over-inflated prices to buy property on market,” he said.
“There are significant stamp duty savings for our investments and also generally we’ll take any opportunity that extends the lease.”
The other finalist, the Cromwell Riverpark Trust was launched in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. With a single asset in the trust, the fund has seen robust performance, increasing from $8.25 cents per unit in 2009 to the current rate of 11 cents per unit.
Cromwell head of retail funds management, Hamish Wehl said: “That fund was the first of Cromwell’s back-to-basics approach. It pays a predictable monthly income stream, which has been very attractive for retail investors and self-managed super funds in particular”.
“It’s an asset-specific investment so the trust has no capacity to own anything other than the asset identified in the product disclosure statement,” he said.
The trust, whose term was extended to 2021, leases the asset to Queensland state-owned utility provider, Energex House, and is 99 per cent occupied.
