Australia’s Biggest BtR Project Approved for Docklands

A double-tower project hailed as Australia’s biggest build-to-rent development was been green lit.

Approved are more than 900 build-to-rent units across two shoptop towers at Melbourne apartment project hotspot Docklands.

Developer AsheMorgan will also pay an affordable housing agency $8 million in lieu of providing 6 per cent of the planned housing at a 25 per cent discount on market pricing.

The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning cleared the $240-million project for a 9643sq m site at 24 Little Docklands Drive.

Labelled the nation’s biggest build-to-rent project by the developer, it comprises two buildings with retail tenancies on the ground floor and a publicly accessible plaza. 

The towers will be 23 storeys with 626 apartments and 18 storeys with 299 apartments. Both are over the height limits laid out in the council development plan.

The plans also include 138 carparking spaces, eight motorcycle parking spaces and 1760 bicycle storage spaces.

It is not yet known which affordable housing agency will receive the $8 million or what housing will be funded with it. 

Marvel Stadium and the Esplanade are within walking distance of the site.

▲ AsheMorgan says that with 900-plus apartments the build-to-rent project will be the biggest in the country.

Warren and Mahoney designed the plans for the project. The City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee voted to support the project in early April.

Several other apartment projects are under way at Docklands including projects by Lendlease and MAB.

Most projects partner with government body Development Victoria, which has the remit for managing development within the Docklands area.

“Docklands plays a key role in delivering much-needed housing in Melbourne—with more than 10,000 apartments delivered or under construction, providing new build-to-sell and build-to-rent housing in the centre of Australia’s fastest-growing major city,” Victoria’s minister for Development Victoria, Colin Brooks, said.

Melbourne is home to three-quarters of all the completed built-to-rent projects nationwide and has 73 per cent of all build-to-rent apartments. 

Charter Keck Cramer data shows an increase in the asset class with 680 apartments completed in 2023 and 13,900 apartments scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.

There are also another 18,200 apartments with approvals waiting to be built or in the planning process.

Certain build-to-rent projects if completed and running between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2031 can get a 50 per cent land tax concession for 30 years with a full exemption from the Absentee Owner Surcharge. 

The Australia Bureau of Statistics also reports that Victorian approvals rose by 3.2 per cent in March 2024.