Madgwicks advises on launch of 'innovative' residential property fund

The launch came after a year of work in structuring and implementing the fund, including obtaining ASIC approval

Madgwicks advises on launch of 'innovative' residential property fund

Madgwicks Lawyers was instrumental in the launch of the Australian Residential Property Fund (ResiFund).

The Melbourne firm says that ResiFund is “highly innovative,” as it allows retail and wholesale investors to invest in a diversified portfolio of residential properties across the country all without the substantial equity investment, borrowing or investment risk associated with buying investment properties directly.

The firm said that the launch came after a year of work in structuring and implementing the fund, including obtaining approval from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for the stapled-entity structure of the fund.

“It was a great opportunity to convert a highly efficient but complex investment structure for our client, into an offer document which is very simple for the ResiFund investors, the end users, to understand,” said Rick Goldberg, Madgwicks partner.

Matthew Lewison, ResiFund chief executive, said the timing for the launch was excellent.

“We are already buying into the Melbourne and Brisbane residential property markets where there is record population growth, very low vacancies (Melbourne at 1.6%) and rental growth averaging 1.5%. That is now already giving rise to (the) fund being on target to achieve a 10% return in the first 12 months, representing a substantial outperformance of the market,” he said.

Lewison said that the fund is investing in types of residential property unavailable to most investors. It is also drawing interest from not only retail investors but also wholesale and institutional investors, he said.