The Barwon Disability Accommodation Fund (BDAF) is delivering both financial returns and positive social outcomes with a focus on acquiring and developing high quality Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) across Australia.
The Fund provides wholesale investors the opportunity to earn attractive risk-adjusted returns through a scaled and stabilised real-estate portfolio of SDA properties, while providing people living with disabilities greater independence, autonomy and inclusivity within our communities.
SDA assets are purpose-built dwellings that are designed, certified and NDIS registered to house eligible National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants who experience extreme functional impairment or have very high support needs.
Legislation introduced in 2016 provided government funding and encouraged private investment to develop, own and operate SDA. This saw the rent of an SDA funded participant occupying an SDA property paid for by the NDIS.
Better serving the disability community
After observing unsophisticated groups delivering “very poor quality” housing outcomes for NDIS Participants, Barwon Investment Partners launched the BDAF in May 2021 to raise and deploy capital into quality accommodation that better served the disability community.
Barwon saw an opportunity as a high-quality, institutional-grade fund manager to address the dire housing needs of people with disabilities and help build out the estimated 28,000 specialist disability accommodation places needed across the country.
Today, the BDAF is a scaled and diversified unlisted property fund that has raised $55 million of equity from more than 300 investors. Barwon is the custodian of 82 high-quality enrolled SDA dwellings with the capacity to provide housing for 117 people who experience extreme functional impairment or require very high levels of support because of their disability.
The BDAF targets a total return of 8%-10% over the medium to long term, supported by a target income distribution yield of 5%-7%. Returns are CPI-linked based on the rental payments collected under the NDIS, with the Fund providing more options for liquidity than its peers in the SDA sector.
The Fund has outperformed (net of fees) the Mercer / MSCI Core Wholesale Property Index since inception in May 2021, and has outperformed other wholesale SDA funds on a risk-adjusted basis. The BDAF favours going concern assets, aiming to avoid the risks associated with new SDA developments — the favoured approach by most SDA funds.
Founded in 2007, Barwon Investment Partners now manages more than $3.2 billion of capital on behalf of its wholesale and institutional clients. The firm has recommendations from Zenith, Lonsec, Evergreen, Willis Towers Watson and Jana across its various offerings, and brings significant direct property experience, systems and processes that it has built in-house from managing the over $2 billion in assets across its Healthcare Property Funds over the last decade.
Open for investment
The Barwon Disability Accommodation Fund is currently open for investment, with management maintaining a strong acquisition pipeline of strong, and can be accessed via the Netwealth or BT Panorama platforms or by contacting Kate Hayward directly at kate.hayward@barwon.net.au.
More information and the Information Memorandum can be accessed via Barwon’s website here: https://barwon.net.au/our-funds/barwon-disability-accommodation-fund/.
Barwon has also exhibited itself to be a sector specialist and thought-leader having published the Barwon White Paper: Investing in the Specialist Disability Accommodation Sector.