Mr de Vos, speaking this week at the Property Fund Association’s 2019 Conference in Hobart, said there are challenges and opportunity in social infrastructure. “An ageing population and proportionately fewer tax payers will create challenges for government funding, but this opens up significant opportunities for the private sector and for investors.”

“As a country Australia is still not seeing how big the social infrastructure sector can be.”

He said social infrastructure investment was rapidly becoming more mainstream. “Social infrastructure is still considered an alternative but when you look at the investment required over the next 20 years it may eventually be considered a core real estate asset class.”

“There are good reasons why investors are taking notice of social infrastructure investments, including early learning centres. It’s a property asset class which is supported by strong macroeconomic themes that relies on bricks and mortar. It will require physical assets for a long time, meaning the obsolescence risk is low.”

“Early learning assets hold long-term value as they typically have long term triple net leases where the rental income is linked to CPI. There is also a land component underpinning the investment, providing the opportunity for capital growth.”

“This contrasts with traditional asset classes such as retail, which is being rapidly disrupted by online shopping.”

Mr de Vos said government is not in a position to fund all of these works. “The private sector has a huge role to play in creating more places, which will bring more opportunities to investors – whether via a pure private investment or via public private partnerships.”

The Property Funds Association 2019 Conference is themed Critical Change: Crisis, Challenge or Catalyst for Property Investment and concludes on 7 May 2019.

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The Executive Committee of PFA recently elected Steven Bennett, Head of Charter Hall Direct, as the new President of PFA’s National Executive Committee, taking over the role from Mark Pratt, Executive General Manager –  Property at Australian Unity.

The Association also elected Andrew Cannane, Executive Director at Evans Dixon as the Committee’s new Vice President.

Formed in 1998 PFA was established to provide the growing number of direct property investors and managers with an organisation to represent their interests, promote their industry and provide a forum for research and education.

Paul Healy, Chief Executive Officer, PFA noted: “We welcome our new President and Vice President to the Executive Commitee. The Executive Committee is the decision-making body of the Association and comprises of PFA members which represent the various areas of the Association’s constituency. Both Steven and Andrew are regarded as experienced direct property professionals in the commercial property space and we look forward to their insights and contribution in growing investor awareness around the direct property sector.

“I would like to thank our previous President, Mark Pratt, for his contribution towards growing the Association’s scope to represent the advisors, consultants and representatives of property investors and managers.”

Steven Bennett, Head of Charter Hall Direct, added: “I am honoured to be appointed in this new role. Having been a member of the Association since 2014, I believe the Association will continue to play an integral role in representing the interests of the direct property industry.

“Over the last two decades, this sector has grown dramatically and has become a core investment class for growing the wealth of Australian investors by providing strong risk adjusted returns and a stable source of regular income.

“Apart from the high levels of ongoing income, what makes direct property so compelling is its low correlation with other asset classes providing effective diversification benefits and lower relative volatility. This means direct property investments react in a different manner to varying economic conditions compared to other major investment classes such as shares and bonds.

“For this reason, we believe, investors will continue to hold direct property as an essential component in their portfolios,” said Mr Bennett.

The Annual PFA Conference for 2019 will be held in Hobart from 5-7 May. It will review the activity in global and local markets and examine whether current times are a crisis, challenge or catalyst for property investment.

Key Conference speakers include:

• David Harrison, Managing Director and Group CEO, Charter Hall
• Simon Garing, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Cromwell EREIT Management
• Justin Smirk, Director – Senior Economist, Westpac Institutional Bank
• Penny Ransom, Group Executive, Head of Investment Management, Investa Property Group
• Rob de Vos, Managing Director, Arena REIT

More information about the Conference.

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