Industry superannuation funds which invest via the Industry Superannuation Property Trust (ISPT) have done very well out of tenants who are Government departments and agencies but who have taken a COVID-19-induced bath on their exposure to retail property.
That is the bottom line of evidence presented to the House of Representatives Standing Committee of Economics which has been told that 47 Government departments and agencies have been responsible for delivering 21% of gross rent received by the main ISPT funds.
It is despite the fact that ISPT told the committee that it had 1,385 tenants within its wholly-owned properties.
It is understood that the office accommodation in question traverses both Commonwealth and Victorian Government departments.
But the ISPT’s exposure to retail properties has proved problematic in the wake of COVID-19 with the organisation telling the committee that the value of its property in the retail sector had declined by 10.03% between 1 April and 30 September.
This compared to a decline of 2.23% with respect to its office properties, 2.79% with respect to its education properties and 0.42% with respect to its logistics and warehousing facilities.
