Ingenia Communities Group Limited (ASX:INA) CFO, Scott Noble talks about trends in seniors’ accommodation, the company's holiday parks and recent acquisitions.Anna Napoli: Welcome to the Finance News Network. I'm Anna Napoli, and joining me now from Ingenia Communities Group
(ASX:INA) is CFO Scott Noble. Scott, welcome to FNN.
Scott Noble: Thank you Anna. Appreciate it.
Anna Napoli: Ingenia Communities now span much of the country. Can you give us a sense of the size of the business today?
Scott Noble: Ingenia Communities provides affordable housing options for seniors and holiday makers. We have over 61 communities now, located predominantly on the east coast of Australia. We have 11 of our communities under active development. And also have 7,600 income generating sites that deliver over $2 million a week in stable rental income.
Anna Napoli: Thanks Scott. Before we talk about your portfolio in more detail what trends have you observed in seniors accommodation over the past decade?
Scott Noble: We are seeing an increase in demand for retirement options for seniors. There's an increased demand across the board. There's an ageing population. We're seeing a significant increase (in) demand for the offering that we provide, which is lifestyle communities where people are looking for an active lifestyle.
Anna Napoli: Now to your portfolio. Can you tell us about Ingenia Lifestyle Communities?
Scott Noble: Ingenia Lifestyle is a key growth focus for our business. This is where people own their home, but rent the land. So it's commonly known as a land lease community. We target downsizes, people who have equity in their home who want to free up some of that equity to live a more comfortable lifestyle. They can then buy into our communities.
In those communities we provide facilities, bowling greens, swimming pools, activities such that they can live a more active lifestyle. We're seeing significantly increased demand in this business.
Anna Napoli: How about Ingenia Holiday Parks?
Scott Noble: Ingenia Holiday's targets families and grey nomads. We have 21 holiday parks across the east coast of Australia in some iconic locations such as Cairns, Lake Conjola, Noosa and Byron Bay.
Anna Napoli: How do Ingenia Gardens Senior Villages differ from the Lifestyle Communities?
Scott Noble: Ingenia Gardens differs from our lifestyle business. It's a rental model where we own the home. It's like a build to rent, where we rent the home and land to the residence. We have 26 of these villages across Australia and we have 1,375 units which we're getting rent from on a weekly basis. It's a great portfolio. It delivers really high occupancy and great cash flow to Ingenia.
Anna Napoli: I see Ingenia has announced two new acquisitions in Victoria and New South Wales. Can you tell us more?
Scott Noble: Yeah. We're very excited about the two new acquisitions. The first one is land adjoining our Lara site in Victoria. It will add another 180 sites to an already very successful project. We've also acquired the Byron Holiday Park in Byron Bay. It has access to the beach. There's 269 sites. It was acquired on an in-going yield of 10 per cent.
Anna Napoli: Last question Scott, is there anything else you'd like to add?
Scott Noble: Look, real excited to talk about our joint venture with Sun Communities. Sun Communities is a US$10 billion REIT. We've entered into a joint venture to develop green field opportunities. Very excited by the opportunity this gives us to grow our business plan and continue to grow the business.
Anna Napoli: Scott Noble, thank you for the update.
Scott Noble: Many thanks, Anna. Thanks for having me.
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