SYMONDS STREET PORTFOLIO
Investment
Highlights
The Symonds Street Portfolio presents a rare opportunity to secure institutional scale in one of Auckland’s most strategic inner-city locations.
Combining diversified income, significant landholding, and multiple future pathways, the portfolio offers investors both immediate performance and long-term repositioning potential within a tightly held CBD precinct.
Institutional Scale and Substantial Income
The offering comprises four established office buildings and a dedicated development site, delivering immediate scale and diversified income.
Robust
Cash Flow
Net passing income of $5,444,982 per annum anchored by Whitecliffe College and The University of Auckland.
Immediate Value Upside
Fully leased net income of $6,335,789 with a clear pathway to increased yield through leasing 2,425m² of vacancy.
Parking
482 on-site car parks, a key advantage in a CBD where parking is at a premium.
Rental Growth
With an average rental of $266/m², there is a significant potential for strong rental growth over the coming years, with leases having fixed rental increases.
Strategic
Landholding
A rare amalgamation of five adjoining Freehold titles in a transformative CBD location, totalling 9,628m² in the heart of Auckland
Location and Redevelopment Options
The portfolio’s value is anchored by its location at the heart of Auckland’s education precinct and its proximity to transformative transit infrastructure. The scale of this landholding, its intensive zoning, and the combination of both solid income in conjunction with a short WALT, provide a wide array of add-value strategies.
Academic
Giants
Directly adjacent to The University of Auckland and AUT, the portfolio is embedded in a catchment of over 72,000 students, ensuring sustained, counter-cyclical demand.
Transport
The properties are located approximately 350 to 500 metres from the Karanga-a-Hape City Rail Link station, with extensive bus routes along Symonds Street, and convenient access to the motorway network.
Substantial
Vertical
Expansion
With a general height limit of 50 metres across the majority of the site, the portfolio allows for substantial vertical expansion.
Multiple Development Pathways
Purpose-built student accommodation or build-to-rent development, premium hotel or visitor accommodation, or a mixed-use hub.
Education Sector
The Symonds Street Portfolio is anchored by University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand’s two largest tertiary institutions. Together they enrol more than 72,000 students, drawing around 4 percent of Auckland’s population to this ridge daily. With the University of Auckland ranked 65th globally in the QS World University Rankings 2026, the precinct benefits from international standing and institutional permanence
Education’s non discretionary nature creates a stable, long term tenancy profile with limited relocation risk. Reinforcing this foundation, international enrolments reached 63,610 between January and April 2025, up 16 percent year on year and 49 percent on 2023, confirming a clear post pandemic recovery trajectory..
International Growth and Structural Undersupply
International enrolments across University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology have rebounded to 12,777 students from more than 100 countries in 2024, a 24.76 percent increase since 2021. This confirms a full post pandemic recovery and renewed global demand for Auckland based education assets.
At a national level, the Government’s International Education Going for Growth Plan targets a doubling of export value to $7.2 billion by 2034 and international enrolments of 119,000. Auckland has historically captured around 54 percent of this market, reinforcing the city’s role as the primary beneficiary of sector expansion.
Against this backdrop, Auckland’s CBD faces a structural undersupply of purpose built student accommodation. With a student population exceeding 70,000 and thousands fewer beds than comparable cities such as Melbourne or Sydney, demand is intensifying within the five minute campus radius. Positioned directly in this high demand catchment, the Symonds Street Portfolio benefits from near zero competing land supply and sustained pressure on both accommodation and academic floor space.
