WeAreLiving Queens, overlooking Melbourne’s Albert Park (Image: Aware Super)
A build-to-rent platform owned by Australia’s third-largest superannuation fund and managed by global investment firm Barings has opened a A$405 million ($292 million) development overlooking Albert Park, south of Melbourne’s city centre.
WeAreLiving Queens at 50-52 Queens Lane provides 433 homes over 14 levels, making it the largest of the three projects developed by Aware Super and Barings as part of their WeAreLiving platform, which earlier this year began leasing homes at WeAreLiving Preston in Melbourne’s north and WeAreLiving Brunswick in Brisbane.
“WeAreLiving Queens provides valuable housing supply to Melbourne, whilst showing Aware Super’s commitment to invest in local projects that will provide stable, long-term returns for our members,” said Alek Misev, head of property at Sydney-based Aware Super. “This building will enable hundreds of Australians to live in high-quality homes, with the added benefit of rental stability – a pillar of the build-to-rent model.”
The apartments are likely to appeal to working professionals who need easy access to Melbourne’s city centre about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to the north, and families seeking to take advantage of Albert Park, a 49-hectare (121 acre) urban lake park that doubles as the site of the annual Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 race.
Apartment Amenities
To ensure the comfort of its hundreds of residents, WeAreLiving Queens offers studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, and amenities including a 24- hour gym, pool, sauna, pet wash and dog run, rooftop terrace, co-working spaces, meeting rooms and a dedicated podcast studio. The all-electric building has an average NatHERS rating of 7.8 stars across all apartments and features an embedded energy network, double glazing and private balconies or terraces for every apartment.
Aware Super head of property Alek Misev
Rents start from A$680 per week for studio apartments; A$795 per week for one-bedroom apartments; A$1,060 per week for two-bedroom apartments; and A$1,580 per week for three bed apartments. Median residential rents in Melbourne range from A$550 for a one-bedroom unit to A$1,125 for a three-bedroom apartment, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.
The project was designed by Bates Smart and built by Hickory, both Melbourne-based firms, while build-to-rent specialist Essence Communities will manage the property.
WeAreLiving will open a fourth build-to-rent development, WeAreLiving Zetland in Sydney, later this year.
The build-to-rent venture, announced in late 2025, has a development pipeline of more than 2,000 homes under management or in planning across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, and Aware Super and Barings plan to expand the platform’s property portfolio to A$2 billion by the end of 2030.
Rental Housing Shortage
Australia’s pipeline of build-to-rent projects has expanded as state governments ease tax settings and rules on land use to encourage investment to alleviate a shortage of rental housing. WeAreLiving’s two projects in Victoria have benefited from a 50 percent land tax concession for new build-to-rent projects in the state, where the rental vacancy rate declined to 2.6 percent as of July.
“With 433 brand-new apartments, WeAreLiving Queens is our largest build-to-rent development to date and its location near the park and lake, as well as the tram line for a simple CBD connection, offers residents the true Melbourne lifestyle.” said Warwick Dowler, head of residential for Barings Real Estate Australia. “These new homes represent a significant contribution by Barings and Aware Super to new housing supply in this busy, desirable area.”
Australia’s stock of operational built-to-rent apartments grew from 39,300 in the second quarter of 2025 to 51,000 in the first quarter of 2026, with the sector’s value rising from A$30.1 billion to A$40.1 billion because of the rapid expansion of operating assets, planned development pipelines and continued capital inflows, according to a report on the sector by tax advisory firm BDO.
“Planning reform, tax settings, land availability, and capital preferences are increasingly shaping where BTR can be delivered at scale,” said Luke Mackintosh, a partner in BDO’s project and infrastructure advisory, who authored the report. “As a result, the next 12 months are likely to be defined by accelerated delivery in NSW, continued consolidation in Victoria, and selective expansion into other east-coast markets.”
New South Wales’more favourable land tax and duty environment has made it a more attractive destination than Victoria for both domestic and offshore institutional capital, according to BDO.
Australia’s build-to-rent sector provided total returns for the year to June 2026 of 8.7 percent as capital growth continued to improve, according to the Property Council of Australia/MSCI Australia Build-to-Rent Property Index, which covers 44 assets and A$10 billion in capital value.
Aware Acquisitions
Aware Super acquired the 50-52 Queens Lane site in 2021 for more than A$70 million after the closure of the former Bayview on the Park hotel. The pension fund, which manages A$240 billion in assets including A$13 billion of real estate, is stepping up its property investments to boost government-mandated returns for its 1.2 million members.
Aware Super earlier this year acquired a nearly completed project in Brisbane from Singapore’s Frasers Property for about A$285 million, which was rebranded as WeAreLiving Brunswick. Under the WeAreLiving partnership, Aware Super provides the capital, while Barings handles development management and investment strategy.
Melbourne-based build-to-rent operator Local:Residential expanded its portfolio of rental homes to more than 4,000 units when it acquired a 355-apartment project in South Melbourne in February.
Aware Super also faces competition in the sector from rival superannuation funds, with Sydney-based Mirvac announcing in December that Australian Retirement Trust had agreed to buy a 48.5 percent stake in its A$1.7 billion Liv Mirvac Fund from Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate, marking the superannuation fund’s first commitment to a BTR portfolio.