The Living Company’s Founder and Joint CEO Stephen Gaitanos has been named Industry Figure of the Year, Asia-Pacific at the PERE Awards 2025.
For the firm, 2025 was a defining year. The Living Company experienced the A$3.85bn Aveo acquisition, the launch of its open-ended Core purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) Fund, alongside consent being granted for its $1.5bn Marrickville Timberyards Build to Rent precinct State Significant Development Application (SSDA).
“For anyone who has worked alongside Stephen, or watched what this team has built, it’s not a surprise – but it is well deserved. Congratulations SG, Craig Carracher AM and to the entire team who made it possible.
“Congratulations to our partner, Korea National Pension Service (NPS) achieving Global Institutional Investor of the Year. To our investors – your belief in the platform, and the people behind it, has made everything possible.”
Statement, The Living Company
Located just six kilometres from Sydney’s CBD in the heart of the thriving inner west, the 2.2-hectare site, previously inaccessible to the public, will become a connected, people-focused neighbourhood that blends housing, work, creativity and green space.
The development will deliver 1,166 Build to Rent homes across seven architecturally distinct buildings, offering a mix of studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom single and double-storey apartments.
At its core, the precinct will feature 10,200 sqm of new public open space, activated by high-street retail, co-working spaces and community amenities to create a truly mixed-use destination.
“Marrickville Timberyards represents a novel and necessary opportunity to deliver high-quality, long-term rental housing at true precinct scale – without compromising on design, sustainability or community.
“This approval allows us to unlock a site that has been closed off for decades and return it to the people of Marrickville as a vibrant, inclusive and future-ready neighbourhood.”
Stephen Gaitanos, Founder and joint CEO, The Living Company
Despite The Living Company’s win, none of the winners in the Global categories repeated their success from the previous year. The total number of awards presented remained unchanged at 48, although several categories were updated to reflect evolving industry dynamics. However, two new awards were introduced.
It was reported that the judging process remained ‘highly robust’, with additional criteria implemented to broaden the range of recipients. Under the revised framework, a firm securing a Global award was no longer eligible to also take the regional prize in the same category, while greater emphasis was placed on fundraising performance rather than capital deployment. As a result, the awards were widely distributed, with no single organisation emerging as a dominant winner.
