Retirement village vehicle Ingenia beats Westfield as best performing real estate trust in 2012

The annual A-REIT survey of best real estate investment trusts by accounting firm BDO has Simon Owen’s Ingenia the best investor performer, returning 79% to shareholders over the year. This compared to second place, Growthlink, that delivered 22% and third with Westfield returning 16%. The average of all trusts was 11%. Not bad for its first year and after Ingenia (the old ING Real Estate Communities) had not made a profit for some years. Owen has been aggressive in reshaping its rental village business towards DMF villages, plus rationalising its US and NZ investments. He is also the last President of the Retirement Village Association, assisting Andrew Giles in steering the marriage with the Property Council.