ANZ jointly leads another $315 million social bond for housing as demand soars

ANZ today announced it had jointly led another bond issue of $315 million for the Commonwealth’s National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), which represents the equal-largest social bond for housing in Australia.

It comes after ANZ jointly led the inaugural bond issue for NHFIC in March, which was also $315 million and was four times oversubscribed following strong demand.

NHFIC is an independent Commonwealth entity that operates the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator (AHBA) to provide cheaper and longer-term secured loan finance for community housing providers by issuing bonds in Australia’s debt capital markets.

Head of Sustainable Finance at ANZ, Katherine Tapley said: “Social and affordable housing is attracting more interest from investors as a standalone asset class given the bonds provide investors an opportunity to deploy capital towards essential social services.”

“Investors globally are keen to mobilise capital in assets that not only help provide environmental benefits but address core social needs.”

Proceeds from the 10.5-year bond will fund seven community housing providers to develop social and affordable housing in Australia. ANZ was joint lead manager with UBS and Westpac for the fixed-rated bond which has provided very competitive funding for 10.5 years which will result in an annual interest rate of 2.07% for the Community Housing Providers.

ANZ is committed to improving the availability of suitable and affordable housing options for all Australians and New Zealanders, including the supply of homes to buy and rent, as well as access to safe accommodation.

Download PDF