Agenda
Look Through or Look Out?
Property performance for the long haul
Is inflation a Look Through short-term blip or here to stay, in which case property markets need to Look Out for sustained pressures? Will property, as an ‘inflation hedge’, deliver, or will the rise in WACC undermine performance? Who is investing and from where? How do you allocate assets with the ongoing uncertainty? What can we learn about returns from emerging asset classes? And, as older stock is replaced by sustainable assets, what is the trade-off between capital commitment and investment returns? It is a challenging time for economies, property markets, investors and advisors. Join the industry leaders and thinkers at the PFA Conference 2023, to hear what they have learned, what they are thinking and where they see Property performance for the long haul.
11:30 am — 5:00 pm
GSA Golf Day
Yowani Golf Course, 455 Northbourne Ave, Lyneham
The 6330 metre Yowani Golf Course is regarded as one of Australia’s finest inland courses, reflecting over 60 years of careful development.
12:30 pm — 5:00 pm
Massons Wine Tour
Canberra Wineries
The wineries surrounding the Canberra district have been around since the 1830s and are now producing some of Australia’s finest vintages. The winemakers are also a creative lot with many wine styles you would usually find in France and Spain starting to come out of this region.
6:30 pm — 9:00 pm
KPMG Welcome Cocktail Party
National Portrait Gallery
Join us for a pre-event viewing of the National Portrait Gallery at 6:30pm. Our cocktail party commences from 7:00pm in the Gordon Darling Hall, the main entrance foyer of the Gallery, which never fails to impress with its soaring ceiling and natural light.
8:30 am — 8:45 am
Conference Welcome
Danielle Carter – MC
Melissa Kingham – PFA President
Nicola Woodward – Chair Conference & Events Committee
Session 1
The Economy and the Property Market - What to Look Out for
8:45 am — 9:30 am
Paul Bloxham, Chief Economist for Australia, New Zealand and Global Commodities, HSBC
Finding Long Term Trends in Short Term Volatility
Economic outlook for the global and domestic economies
Setting the economic framework for the Conference, Paul will look at global and local economic and market trends and their implications for the economic and property sector cycles. What are the drivers which are affecting international and domestic economies? Where is inflation and where are interest rates heading? What economic policy and migration settings will influence the Australian economy and overall demand? What is the impact on core property markets – cap rates, valuations, demand? And how is the transition to green energy helping to shape infrastructure expenditure.
9:30 am — 10:00 am
Benjamin Martin, Head of Pacific Real Estate Research, MSCI Real Assets
Global Property Trends
Volumes, performance and regulatory changes
More than 12 months down the track from the beginning of market volatilities and inflation troubles, how has property performed in the world and Australia? How have capital flows been affected and what does the performance look like relative to other sectors? As the focus on sustainability in property grows, how is this impacting transaction volumes, how much regulatory uncertainty is there and what are the risks being evaluated now? Hear from Benjamin as he updates us on global property market trends.
10:00 am — 10:30 am
Morning Tea
10:30 am — 11:00 am
Jennifer Johnstone-Kaiser, Principal Consultant, Property Leader, Frontier Advisors
Global and Local Asset Allocation
Looking through the economic disruption
Within the current complex economic environment, setting portfolio allocations has its challenges. Jennifer will give us some insights into the sorts of issues that her clients are grappling with, what they are asking her, and how she is framing the advice for investment allocations? What are global factors that are affecting Frontier’s decisions? Is the Australian investment market still seen as favourable and is global capital still attracted here? What are the trends in raising capital? And, is more capital being diverted to the infrastructure sector?
11:00 am — 11:30 am
Michelle McNally, Chief Executive Officer, Aware Real Estate
Aware Real Estate Property
Developing a direct property investment platform
As Michelle and her team continue to develop the Aware Real Estate Property Platform, she will reflect on trends in superfund investing – particularly the focus on direct property Investment. How does it work? What are the benefits? What are the challenges? And with the particular focus that Aware Real Estate has on developing affordable housing, Michelle will look at the questions: Why affordable housing? Why Build to Rent? And how does this model work for both the superfund investors as well as those who rent the housing?
11:30 am — 12:30 pm
Panel Session
Bringing together the morning’s program and their collective experience, the panellists will look at the local and global market conditions:
Paul Bloxham, HSBC; Benjamin Martin-Henry, MSCI Real Assets; Jennifer Johnstone-Kaiser, Frontier Advisors; Michelle McNally, Aware Real Estate
12:30 pm — 1:30 pm
Lunch
Session 2
Looking Through to a Sustainable Property Future
1:30 pm — 2:00 pm
Adam Murchie, Director, Forza Capital
Reworking existing assets
A case study on how to adapt existing assets to a more sustainable future
Forza Capital has been at the forefront of creating sustainable buildings from existing properties. Whilst the process of doing such works can be simple, often the language and economics surrounding such works is complex. In this session Adam will highlight some case studies as to the works they have undertaken, the cost of such works and the economic benefits. In particular, he will focus on some of the specific works that are currently being undertaken at 200 Creek St, Brisbane in partnership with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
2:00 pm — 2:30 pm
Matt O’Halloran, Head of Development, Quintessential Equity
Developing the Geelong Civic Precinct
A case study on sustainable property development
Quintessential Equity has a primary focus on developing and redeveloping sustainable properties. In 2022 it completed the multi property, mixed-use Geelong Civil Precinct. Matt will lead us through this new build process to look at the questions: What made this development sustainable? How did they make both development cost and time savings? What is cross laminated timber and how do you use it? And what cost savings were made specifically due to the focus on sustainability? He will also look at other sustainable work they have done in the Geelong region.
2:30 pm — 3:00 pm
Paul Powderly, State Chief Executive, Colliers
Government in the Canberra Market
How the demand for sustainability is driving the market and shaping the future of office as an asset class.
The dominance of State and Commonwealth government tenancies in the Canberra property market gives some insight into how these tenants will impact the sector. While they may seek to lead the way in requiring 5 & 6 star rated properties, how does this impact the future or adaptive reuse of older stock? What are government tenants exactly demanding, how is this impacting property development and redevelopment, what are the environmental outcomes, and what is the flow on effect is for private sector demand? Paul will talk to his experience in the Canberra market to give us insights into these issues as well as the regulatory framework being developed for sustainable buildings.
3:00 pm — 3:30 pm
The “Burning” Question – New Build or Refurbish?
Which fits the ESG profile best for a B/C grade building?
A discussion facilitated by Rhonda Lenardon, Director, KPMG
with Zoe Ferrari, Investment Manager, ISPT
and Joan Ko, Principal, Australasian Climate & Sustainability Services Leader, Arup
Faced with the need to create a 6 Star Nabers rated building to replace a run-down B to C grade building, what should a building owner do: pull down and do a new build, or refurbish? How do you make the optimal decision? What are the factors which go into the choices you have to consider? What are the inputs and how do you measure them? How do you know when it is just ‘not worth’ trying to refurbish the building? How do you deal with the waste, or need there be waste? And whichever option you choose, how do you make the building work for the next 30 years and beyond, without having to demolish sometime in the future? Rhonda will facilitate this important discussion with Joan and Zoe sharing their knowledge and insights.
3:30 pm — 4:00 pm
Panel Session
Moderator – Rhonda Lenardon, Director, KPMG
The panellists will review the afternoon’s session on sustainable development and redevelopment:
Adam Murchie, Forza Capital; Matt O’Halloran, Quintessential Equity; Paul Powderly, Colliers; Zoe Ferrari, ISPT; Joan Ko, Arup
4:00 pm
Close of Day
4:00 pm — 4:15 pm
Afternoon Tea
6:30 pm — 11:30 pm
One Investment Group Gala Dinner
Old Parliament House
We kick off for pre-dinner drinks and canapes from 6:30pm in the King’s Hall at Old Parliament House.
At 7:30 pm we make our way to the Members’ Dining Room also known as (M513).
8:50 am — 9:00 am
Welcome
Danielle Carter – MC
Session 3
Different Perspectives on Property Performance
9:00 am — 9:30 am
Melissa Hardy, Director Business Performance and Technology, QIC
QIC’s Canberra Centre
An evolution towards town centre – from retail hub to mixed-use community
Melissa Hardy will share about QIC’s plans to evolve a number of their flagship super-regional retail assets into true mixed-use town centre destinations. Canberra Centre is one of the jewels in QIC’s portfolio, and is about to commence a multi-year journey to evolve, with hotel, office, build to rent and additional retail/entertainment uses planned. Hear more about the plans and the goals for the asset.
9:30 am — 10:00 am
Kelvin McKeown, Fund Manager, Agriculture, Centuria Capital Limited
How to Grow an Ag Fund
Centuria’s Agriculture Fund
Agriculture funds have re-emerged as a focus for investment. How has the sector grown and how is it faring in the climate change debate? What are the risks to be considered and what sort of return profiles can you get from different agriculture products? Kelvin will get us up to speed with what is happening in this asset class and will lead us through the strategy for the Centuria Agriculture Fund. What are the assets? What is the income structure? Where do sustainability and climate change factors fit in? And how will they grow the portfolio?
10:00 am — 10:30 am
Jana King , Head of Impact & Investor Relations, Indigenous Business Australia
Building Wealth for First Nations Peoples
Indigenous Business Australia and its journey in property
Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) has been working with First Nations Peoples since 1990 to develop financial, business and property investment opportunities. Jana King will lead us through the IBA history and how it is seeking to empower Indigenous Australians. With core activities of mortgage lending, business lending and support, and investment – both equities and property, IBA has a key strategy of building wealth for communities. What are some of the complexities of working with Indigenous investors? How do they view investments ‘on’ and ‘off’ Country, what are their expectations for their investments and what does the future look like?
10:30 am — 11:00 am
Rob Hattersley, Group Head of Capital, MaxCap Group
The Rise of Non-Bank Lending
Capturing the benefits of a counter-cyclical asset class
While real property asset are facing turbulent times, opportunities abound in the non-bank lending sector for property debt. What are these opportunities and how are they playing out in the non-bank lending markets? Who wants the loans, and why are they now looking at the non-bank lenders? Who are the lenders, how has their profile changed and what are they looking for? How does the Australian non-bank debt landscape compare to overseas markets? And what is the outlook for green lending? Rob will give us insights into this significantly evolving market, and where he sees the future potential.
11:00 am — 11:15 am