38 Albermarle Street

Increasingly more Australians are being priced out of the housing market and of living close to where they work. Along with today’s runaway rental market and cost of living, home ownership is even further out of reach than ever before, and more innovative solutions need to be brought to the table. Assemble directly responded to Australia’s unacceptable housing crisis by targeting an affordable solution to home ownership for moderate income earners. Assemble’s purchase pathway brings together a supported home ownership pathway with sustainable, high-quality apartments in connected inner-city locations alongside communal spaces that support connected community.

38 Albermarle Street pilots a solution for moderate income earning Australians that cannot keep up with the housing market. Assemble’s purchase pathway offers well-designed, sustainable homes, with set rent and purchase pricing for up to five years – supporting residents to purchase when they are ready, without the financial goalposts moving. An untested concept, an extensive consultation phase to introduce the project and innovation led to strong endorsement from local council and the surrounding community. Various site constraints – including flood levels and site-specific heritage overlays – were strategically addressed to ensure greater liveability and meaningful built outcomes for residents and wider community.

38 Albermarle Street and Assemble’s purchase pathway intends to make a real and long-lasting impact in the Australian affordable housing market. Central to the project’s design is passive and environmental design principles which decrease the symptoms of climate change and contributes to decreased living costs via energy efficiency, alongside the integration of communal spaces which supports a connected, resilient community. Importantly, this project demonstrates that new ideas can provide scalable solutions to Australia’s housing crisis – Assemble has leveraged this pilot project to onboard institutional investors into alternative housing models, with over 3,000 homes currently under construction or under planning.

With the support of ANZ, Assemble developed their purchase pathway to supports moderate income households to save for deposits while they live in their home. The innovative purchase pathway creates financial stability with set purchase and rental pricing when residents sign up, for the first five years of the project. Additional financial benefits to residents include bulk initiatives alleviating cost of living and money coaching to support financial literacy. For 38 Albermarle Street, Assemble’s Key Worker Program was also developed in collaboration with the City of Melbourne, with 10% of homes offered at a 20% reduction to market rent. This program welcomed moderate-income earning professionals with an opportunity to eventually purchase homes where they devote their professional lives to.