An Update on the Australian Unity Healthcare Property Fund

By James Malliaros

On Monday, September 19, our Managing Partner and Senior Financial Planner Paul Nicol interviewed the Portfolio Manager of the Australian Unity Healthcare Property Fund, Chris Smith, to reflect on the hugely successful 20-year history of the fund.

Currently, the Australian Unity Healthcare Property Fund owns 52 Healthcare related properties with 155 tenants, an average lease expiry of 12.59 years at a current occupancy of 99%. The fund is nearing $1.7b in assets under management, which is incredibly impressive.

Healthcare is a unique property sector displaying underlying demand drivers that relate more to factors such as demographics, population growth, private health insurance, ageing and illness than economic output.

In the recording, Chris discusses the current landscape of investing in Healthcare that remains compelling due to low-interest rates, an ageing population and increasing demands for healthcare services and the ability to improve the fund’s assets progressively over time.

Over its 20-year history, the performance of the Australian Unity Healthcare Property Fund has been incredibly consistent. As at 30 June 2019, the fund returned 9.93% over the 12 months prior, has returned 12.72% p.a over the last 5 years and since inception returned 11.75% pa. At present, the fund is closed to new applications to control the flow of monies being received by the fund. However, there is a possibility the fund will re-open for applications shortly for a limited period of time.

We hope you enjoy the recording and welcome any feedback.