Does social housing offer investment opportunity?
Social housing should be treated as a form of essential infrastructure, in order to create a viable basis for private investment, according to the study by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).
The research, which was undertaken together with the University of Tasmania, the University of New South Wales, and RMIT University, aimed to promote and conceptualise the value of social housing as an investment opportunity, as a part of the investors’ infrastructure portfolio.
University of Tasmania’s lead researcher, Kathleen Flanagan, said that housing could be seen as infrastructure in that it allowed labour be productive.
"In particular it affects productivity through agglomeration economies—the size and density of populations housed impacts the costs of commuting, public health, ageing, and childhood development and learning,” he noted.
The report also warned that solely thinking of social housing as productive infrastructure risks excluding the valuable aspects of social housing was not easily monetised.
“There are risks an uncritical adoption of a business case approach that focusses on the measureable financial aspects of social housing may exclude or hide other important qualities that are relevant to the purpose of social housing,” Flangan concluded.
Recommended for you
ASIC data shows the number of smaller AFSLs with less than $50 million in revenue has increased by 25 per cent in the past year, but the regulator believes they are still under reporting breaches.
Former financial adviser and Coalition backbencher Bert van Manen has introduced a bill in Parliament, building on Michelle Levy’s good advice duty and calling for SOAs to be scrapped.
Following its recent partnership with Otivo, Colonial First State has now announced an arrangement with Viridian Advisory to offer unadvised members with one-off, topic-based financial advice.
Insignia Financial has made four appointments, including three who have joined from TAL, to lead strategy and innovation in its retirement solutions for the MLC brand.