Warburg Pincus, Weave Lead Off Mingtiandi Residential Forum on Tuesday

One of Asia’s hottest real estate investment sectors comes into focus starting next week as Mingtiandi begins its APAC Residential Forum with an interview of top executives from Warburg Pincus and Hong Kong’s Weave Living.

The spotlight interview session brings together Warburg Pincus managing director Qiqi Zhang with Sachin Doshi, the founder and group chief executive of rental housing operator Weave Living for a 45 minute discussion with Mingtiandi founder Michael Cole on the forces driving investment in multi-family ventures across Asia and their own experiences launching successful ventures in the region.

The show, which is sponsored by Yardi, will be viewable free of charge on Mingtiandi’s MTD TV video platform at 10:00 AM Hong Kong time on Tuesday, 14 March to registered Mingtiandi members and you may sign up to view via the link below.

The spotlight interview is the first session in a four part series which will feature panels dedicated to the Greater China, Japan and Australia markets in the coming days, with speakers from AEW, Brookfield Asset Management, LaSalle Investment Management, Nuveen and more.

Greater China in Focus

Following Tuesday’s spotlight session, which will look into Warburg Pincus’ successes with mainland platforms such as Mofang and Vlinker, as well as exploring Weave’s expansion in Hong Kong and Singapore, the APAC Residential Forum will continue on Thursday, 16 March with a panel on Greater China strategies.

The Thursday session, which is also happening at 10:00 AM Hong Kong time, will feature Veronica Huang, senior vice president for real estate investment at Brookfield Asset Management; Selena Shi, managing director, acquisitions and RMB fund at LaSalle Investment Management and Craig To, vice president and head of capital raising for Shanghai-based rental housing operator Vlinker.

In the Greater China panel the speakers will discuss how China’s increasingly mobile population of professionals and rising housing prices are fostering the development of rental housing, with government incentives also encouraging the growth of the sector.

The panelists will also explain how the development of mainland REITs of affordable housing are supercharging investor interest in the rental residential opportunities in China.

Japan, Australia Sessions to Follow

In its second week, the APAC Residential Forum will turn to the region’s most developed rental housing markets, Japan and Australia.

On Tuesday, 21 March, Mingtiandi’s panel on multi-family investment in Japan will look at how investors are turning to new segments of the market, such as student accommodation and senior living, for enhanced yields, while also finding ways to boost returns from more mainstream ventures.

The Japan panel will feature Jason Lee, managing director, senior portfolio manager, CIO and head of private equity for Asia Pacific at AEW and Joel H. Rothstein, shareholder and chair of the Asia real estate practice at international law firm Greenberg Traurig, as well as a senior director from Phoenix Property Investors.

In the Australia session on Thursday, 23 March, Mingtiandi will welcome Ben Taylor, director of housing for Asia Pacific at Nuveen Real Estate, Rushabh Desai, chief executive officer with newly formed investment platform Varsity Group Asia Pacific and a senior representative from Phoenix Property Investors.