Perth's build-to-rent pipeline: 14 projects, about 1,100 homes

Western Australia’s build-to-rent sector now has two distinct pipelines running at once: a 14-project state-backed program contracted this year and delivering close to 1,100 affordable and social homes, and a smaller but growing run of private build-to-rent towers chasing institutional tenants in West Perth, East Perth and Shenton Park.

Why it matters

For developers and builders watching the Perth multifamily sector, the state program sets a floor of activity that is already contracted rather than speculative. PACT Construction, EMCO Building and Icon Construction have been secured to deliver the homes, funded through the federal Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord Facility alongside $443 million in upfront capital from the WA Government, The Urban Developer reported. Once complete, those homes are sold to community housing providers to run as rentals rather than held by the builders themselves, which keeps the delivery side separate from the long-term ownership and management side of the build-to-rent model.

Alongside that program, private developers are testing whether build-to-rent stacks up as an investment-grade asset class in Perth on its own, without government backing. SKS Group’s approval for its Harvest project in West Perth and Celsius Property Group’s approved Shenton Park scheme are both signs that institutional-style build-to-rent is moving from pitch deck to approved DA in the WA market, not just in Sydney and Melbourne.

The numbers

The state-backed program covers 14 projects totalling roughly 1,100 homes: PACT Construction is building 501 apartments across sites including White Gum Valley, Ellenbrook, Wellard, Kelmscott, Subiaco, Butler and Bassendean; EMCO Building is building 470 apartments across Woodbridge, Rivervale, Redcliffe, Cannington, Malaga and Midland; and Icon Construction holds the Roe Street Perth City Link project of 175 units, separate from Icon’s own build-to-rent tower on Pier Street in East Perth, described as Perth’s first fully build-to-rent tower at 219 apartments and due for completion in 2027.

On the private side, SKS Group’s 21-storey Harvest project at 581-583 Murray Street, West Perth, was approved in October 2025 for 118 build-to-rent apartments and 87 serviced apartments on a 2,571 sqm site, with construction timed to start once the group’s Cockburn build wraps up. Celsius Property Group holds planning approval for a $250 million scheme at Montario Quarter in Shenton Park, comprising a 13-storey build-to-rent building and an eight-storey build-to-sell block, targeting completion around mid-2027.

What’s next

The state program’s builders are working through staged construction with build times of 16 to 30 months per site, so the first completions should start reaching community housing providers well before the private towers chasing institutional tenants are finished. For Perth developers assessing their own sites, the test case to watch is whether SKS Group and Celsius can secure capital partners and start construction on their approved private build-to-rent towers in the next year, which would be the first real signal of whether the model works in Perth without a government contract underneath it.

Build-to-rent is only one strand of the apartment supply reaching Perth buyers and renters this month. Finbar Group completed its 342-lot Garden Towers project in East Perth, with titles issued and settlements now under way, a reminder that build-to-sell stock is still converting to market at scale alongside the slower-moving build-to-rent pipeline. Developers weighing which model to pursue on their own sites are effectively choosing between that faster build-to-sell turnover and the longer, more contracted path the build-to-rent projects above are taking.

Whether that choice tips further toward build-to-rent in WA will depend on how quickly the private towers above can line up capital partners, since the state-backed homes are already funded and do not test market appetite for the asset class on their own.