How Lighthouse, St George make affordable housing stack up

Lighthouse Infrastructure has doubled its commitment in affordable housing, taking it to $120 million, in a deal with St George Community Housing which the fund manager is confident will generate institutional-grade investment returns.

Through the deal, Melbourne-based Lighthouse will provide $61 million in funding to SGCH Keys, a registered charity and subsidiary of St George Community Housing, to acquire 76 apartments in Parramatta to be rented to essential workers.

The investment follows Lighthouse’s $59 million in funding late last year, which SGCH used to acquire 85 affordable worker properties in Westmead. Both players say their early partnership provided proof of concept that the funding model is both sustainable and scalable.

This is an extract from an article written by Nick Lenaghan for the Australian Financial Review, published on 15 November 2022.