Australian institutional investors and residential investment vehicles

![CDATA[A lack of institutional investor involvement in the private rental residential sector is a structural weakness in the Australian housing rental market. To encourage institutional investment in the private rental market, several residential investment vehicles such as REITs have been introduced in the US and internationally. Despite Australian REITs being the second largest REIT market in the world, no residential REIT vehicle is available in Australia. Therefore, it is not only essential to assess the attitudes of Australian institutional investors regarding housing investment, but also residential investment vehicles. A survey of Australian institutional investors concerning residential property investment was conducted in August-September 2014. The results showed that the lack of well-structured residential investment vehicles and low returns were seen as critical issues in the residential property market. In addition, the most desirable features for an effective residential investment vehicle were being managed by an experienced manager, a diversified portfolio by location and delivering stable income returns with low debt. The implications of the findings are also discussed.]]