![\"Brunswick-and-co-hero\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Brunswick-and-co-hero.jpg\")
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The deal for the Brisbane project is expected to set a yield benchmark (Image: Cox Architecture)<\/p>\n
Singapore\u2019s Frasers Property has agreed to sell a nearly completed build-to-rent project in Brisbane to a vehicle set up by US investment manager Barings and Australia\u2019s third-biggest superannuation fund for a reported A$285 million ($202 million), according to market sources, ending a year-long process.<\/p>\n
Barings and Aware Super are buying the project through the WeAreLiving platform which they had announced in November<\/a>, with the deal for the 366-unit Brunswick & Co development near Brisbane\u2019s business district in Fortitude Valley having been the subject of rumours since early last year.<\/p>\n The Brisbane transaction was agreed to within days of WeAreLiving opening a 285-unit development in Melbourne<\/a>, with Alex Misev, head of property at Aware Super, pointing to the opportunity to add to Australia\u2019s housing supply while achieving steady income.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBuild\u2011to\u2011rent allows us to invest with a long\u2011term lens to deliver secure, high\u2011quality rental homes in locations where Australians want to live, while generating sustainable returns for our members,\u201d Misev said in a statement announcing the Melbourne project.<\/p>\n Setting a Benchmark<\/p>\n Located about 20 minutes by train from Brisbane\u2019s city centre, Frasers had begun construction of the 25-storey Brunswick & Co project in May 2022. The project includes a pool, dog park, work spaces<\/a>, a cinema room, and fitness facilities in its 1,900 square metres (20,500 square feet) of amenities.<\/p>\n Aware Super head of property Alex Misev (Image: Aware)<\/p>\n The Australian newspaper and other media reported the transaction at A$285 million, with analysts indicating a yield of more than 4.5 percent on the deal.<\/p>\n Frasers Property is in a quiet period before an earnings announcement in May and declined to provide any comment, but its website has a page that states<\/a> that \u201cWeAreLiving is the new owner of Brunswick & Co.\u201dOfficials at Aware Super and Barings declined to comment on the Brisbane deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n With more investment managers having established stabilised portfolios of BTR homes in the past two years, market analysts predict that completion of the Brunswick & Co transaction will set a benchmark for asset values in Australia\u2019s BTR sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2,000-Unit Pipeline<\/p>\n With a pipeline of more than 2,000 dwellings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, WeAreLiving will open its 433-unit Queens BTR project<\/a> in Melbourne next week, with Brunswick & Co. next in line, according to a market source.<\/p>\n The Preston project, a 37-minute train ride from Southern Cross Station in central Melbourne, offers studios to three-bedroomed townhouses for between A$545 and A$1,390 per week and the companies said they are seeing\u00a0 \u201cstrong demand across all unit types.\u201d Seventy-five units are fully furnished, while all residences come with refrigerator, washer\/dryer and private balconies or terraces.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under the WeAreLiving partnership, Aware Super provides the capital, while Barings handles development management and investment strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aware Super, which manages A$210 billion in assets, has stepped up both its domestic and overseas real estate investments in recent months to boost government-mandated returns for its 1.2 million members. The fund, which manages A$10 billion in real estate assets, has been investing in the Australian BTR sector for nearly nine years\u00a0<\/p>\n Fast Growing Sector<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s BTR market had strong growth in 2025 with MSCI data showing transactions involving income-earning residential properties more than doubled to A$8.2 billion, while US-based real estate research firm Franklin Street estimates 30,000 units are being built<\/a>, which would double current capacity in the sector.<\/p>\n CBRE, which is managing the Brunswick & Co sale, predicts BTR developments will account for 22 percent of Australia\u2019s new apartments by 2029, about 11,000 units a year.<\/p>\n With more trades of leased up properties taking place, more investors are seeing exit opportunities, with Macquarie Asset Management-backed Local:Residential acquiring a 355-apartment Melbourne project<\/a> in February as it continues to scale up its platform.<\/p>\n Canadian pension fund OMERS-backed Oxford Properties is exploring a partial or full sale of its Australia build-to-rent platform Indi, in a deal that could value the business at A$1.5 billion, The Australian newspaper reported earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deal for the Brisbane project is expected to set a yield benchmark (Image: Cox Architecture) Singapore\u2019s Frasers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23,5171,5172,99,3031,5173,958,5174],"class_list":{"0":"post-3925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brisbane","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-aware-super","10":"tag-barings","11":"tag-brisbane","12":"tag-build-to-rent","13":"tag-daily-sp","14":"tag-featured","15":"tag-frasers-property"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Alek](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alek-Misev-Aware-Super-780px-e1710132587977.jpg\")
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