Sentinel adds 240-unit Adelaide project to BTR pipeline

“We are pleased to receive development approval for what will be South Australia’s first purpose-built institutional Build to Rent community,” Sentinel’s Australia managing director Keith Lucas said.

“The development is designed to offer South Australians greater housing choice and to add to the vibrancy of the walkable and inviting Bowden Urban Village. We’re proud to be bringing the innovative housing model to Adelaide.”

Momentum is picking up, one development at a time, in the housing type that is new to Australia but which – at scale – has the potential to reshape the country’s housing market in a nation with a growing proportion of renters.

Property Council of Australia/EY figures last year found BTR accounted for just 0.2 per cent of the country’s housing stock, well below the UK figure of 5.4 per cent and 12 per cent in the US. But even if the Australian figure rose to 3 per cent, that would mean 350,000 new apartments.

The expected construction value of the Bowden development, designed by Architectus, is $100 million. Sentinel did not give a likely timeline for construction.

“We prioritised equitable amenities for residents, maximising apartment access to solar and natural light, reduced overshadowing to enhance views and improved connections to the adjacent park and pedestrian links,” Architectus principal Oliver Mayger said.

The building will target a minimum 5-Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia and a minimum 7.5-star average NatHERS rating across the building on completion, Sentinel said.

Last year Sentinel said it had secured funding with Dutch pension fund PGGM to develop a $1.5 billion BTR portfolio in Australia, but declined to say whether PGGM or a different investor was funding the SA project.

The Bowden precinct, 2.5km from the city centre, is the SA government’s first higher-density urban infill project, with plans to house 3000 people.

“The build-to-rent asset class is game changing for South Australia because it challenges the established tenant/landlord relationship giving power back to tenants – critical when rental vacancies [are] at below 1 per cent,” SA housing and urban development minister Nick Champion said.

Sentinel was the first investor to develop institutional-grade BTR property in Australia with a 93-unit development in Perth’s Subiaco, which opened in 2019, and a second building in 2022. Its second project, the 172-unit The Briscoe in West Melbourne, was completed in December and opened last month.