Abadeen Group Joins Build-to-Rent Gold Rush

Sydney-based Abadeen Group is joining the rush into Australia’s rising build-to-rent sector, diversifying its development pipeline on the back of strong market fundamentals.

“We’re ready to go,” Abadeen’s Suzette Lamont told The Urban Developer.

Newly appointed as the executive general manager and head of operations for the group’s freshly-hatched Haven build-to-rent platform, Lamont will drive its growth alongside Abadeen’s chief operating officer Joe Tack as its chief executive.

“We’re looking forward to partnering with the right capital partner and we’re out there talking at the moment,” she said.

Lamont said Abadeen’s strategic move into the fast-growing asset class was “built directly on the fundamentals of what’s happening in the Australian economy”.

“We’ve got a massive housing shortage, we’ve got a generation of people who will be choosing to rent and not just having to rent, a lot more of a global economy and racing migration.”

And she said although there were a lot of other development groups  moving into the build-to-rent sector “thinking they can do it all … the fact is that Abbadeen has done it all”.

“While it has been build-to-sell, it also has had these sister companies, including a property management business that looks after over 2000 front doors throughout NSW and a settlement business as well as deep, long-term construction partnerships.

“And our sweet spot is acquisitions, being able to find the right deals and the right land opportunities and infill opportunities to create these amazing liveable communities.

“So, we’re excited to use those in-house skills and built-up experience to be able to create a fantastic product market fit for Haven.”

▲ Suzette Lamont, executive general manager and head of operations for Abadeen Group's newly launched build-to-rent platform Haven.

Tack said Abadeen had been looking to diversify into build-to-rent for some time and by bringing Lamont into the fold “we’ve really been able to accelerate our move into this exciting part of the market”.

He said her expertise and 25 years of experience across a variety of property sectors would help drive innovative solutions across the platform through the integration of digital technology and ESG conscious practices.

Lamont was previously a senior executive at CBRE where she led a team of property and asset managers and spearheaded the development of a tenant experience app now used in 12 countries.

Despite this track record of customer-focused innovation, however, she said Haven would not become part of the sector’s “arms race in amenity”.

“People are out there doing some really wild and amazing things in amenity but what we see a need for is very practical, essential convenience amenity, which will actually be used and valued by the build-to-rent residents.”

As far as preferred locations, she said Haven would “shoot where the ducks are flying” with a focus on the eastern seaboard gateway cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

“And potentially some of those more millennial-based centres like Newcastle but probably not for our seed asset. We would love our seed asset to be in Sydney.”