- What Brookfield will invest up to $100m in a Forum Asset Management fund
- Why The funds will support Forum’s acquisition of Alignvest Student Housing
- What next Forum will target further investment in major university markets
Brookfield Asset Management is investing up to $100m in Forum Asset Management’s Forum Real Estate Income and Impact Fund (REIIF).
The investment will support Forum’s recent $1.7bn acquisition of Alignvest Student Housing, a move that made Forum the largest provider of student housing in Canada.
REIIF is a $2.4bn private REIT through which all of Forum’s purpose-built student housing is owned. The fund targets markets near major universities and has 31 properties comprising approximately 10,500 beds.
In a recent interview with Green Street News, Aly Damji, Forum Asset Management’s managing partner of real estate, highlighted Canada’s dire need for student housing, and Forum’s intention to continue to try to fill it.
“Canada is fundamentally undersupplied in housing, with a 390,000-bed shortfall in [purpose-built student accommodations],” he said. “Compounding the issue, only approximately 26,000 additional beds are currently in the national development pipeline — a figure far too small to meet the growing demand.”
In September, Forum filed plans to build an 18-storey student housing development near Toronto Metropolitan University and George Brown College’s St. James campus.
Brookfield’s portfolio of student housing is valued at over $7bn with 60,000 beds across Europe and the U.S. The investment in Forum marks the company’s first foray into Canadian student housing.
