While CAREIT was only listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Sept 25, Bin has held roles across Centurion Group (comprising Centurion Properties, Centurion Corporation and CAREIT). They have turned what others refer to as “dormitories” into what is now called “workers’ accommodation”.
This philosophy and approach are intentional. Each property is branded, managed and run as a living community rather than an industrial facility. The model combines hospitality with social purpose and makes sound business sense.
As of listing day, CAREIT’s portfolio is valued at about $1.8 billion, spanning 14 assets and more than 26,000 beds.
At these accommodations, when they first started, residents used to have access to health checks and language classes run in partnership with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as HealthServe, Methodist Welfare Services, Project Chulia Street and St Andrew’s Community Services for many years. Now, other NGOs like the Salvation Army and even the National University of Singapore’s community club are involved.
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Today, CAREIT employs “resident life managers” to organise regular activities, even something as small as collecting surplus bread rolls nightly from generous bakeries for distribution.
“We’ve created social interaction,” Bin says. “These are all the little things we do that set us apart.” At the same time, renewal rates exceed 85% and roughly 60% of their residents stay for more than five years.
A market defined by resilience
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Beneath CAREIT’s positioning lies an asset class built on resilience. Its strength comes down to one thing: the fundamentals of supply and demand.
In Singapore, there are about 450,000 work permit holders, but only 150,000 purpose-built beds are available for them. The rest stay in other dormitories such as temporary occupation licence quarters, factory converted dormitories and quick-built dormitories.
“The ratio of migrant workers to beds is more than three to one,” Bin notes, “And so we believe strong demand will continue for a while.”
This shortage keeps occupancy high and rents steady. Unlike office or retail leases that renew every few years, worker-housing contracts are reviewed annually due to the high demand, giving CAREIT regular opportunities to adjust rents in line with the market.
“There’s some upside every year,” Bin says. “Our demand is strong and renewal is continuous.”
In addition, CAREIT’s accommodation business also extends beyond Singapore. Through its portfolio of student housing in the UK and Australia, the company has built a second growth engine in markets where university enrolments and demand for purpose-built housing remain strong. These overseas assets provide diversification, but Singapore continues to anchor the business.
“Roughly 70% of our cash flow is Sing-dollar based,” Bin adds. “Even for our foreign deals, we hedge currency and use interest-rate swaps so there’s certainty to the returns.”
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This balance — steady domestic income paired with selective exposure to developed overseas markets — gives CAREIT both stability and room to grow. For investors, the formula is simply: essential housing, recurring demand and predictable cash flow.
The making of a sector pioneer
Centurion Group’s path to this niche leadership has been anything but linear. The group’s controlling shareholders first turned to real estate in the late 2000s, and Bin was asked to join in 2007 to “kick-start real estate investments in Centurion Properties”.
He recalls starting “from a very humble strata-titled office space in Middle Road,” having left “a nice office in Fifth Avenue.”
Centurion Group’s first project, Kovan Residences, was launched amidst the global financial crisis. Soon after came its first workers’ accommodation in Toh Guan in 2008, a light-industrial area in Jurong East.
“When I visited the first workers’ accommodation, it was really a cultural experience,” he says. “The workers’ accommodation then was not what it is today. This was like 1G — what you see here now is 3G or 4G.”
The next milestone was with a project in Mandai, developed together with Lian Beng Group. The site combined industrial and workers’ accommodation elements — a way to spread risk, ie developing a multi-storey industrial building for strata sale, while securing steady long-term income.
In 2011, the company took a major step by carrying out a reverse takeover (RTO) of SM Summit, a listed company on the SGX, which allowed it to inject its accommodation assets into a listed platform.
To tie with the controlling shareholders, the company was renamed Centurion Corporation. The RTO laid a strong foundation for expansion, further increasing its investments and strengthening its position in workers’ accommodation first in Singapore, then in Malaysia, and later in student accommodation in the UK, Australia and the US. In recent years, the company has further ventured into China and Hong Kong.
Over time, what began as a handful of local projects for the company evolved into a global portfolio of more than 70,000 beds across multiple countries. This year, that portfolio reached another milestone with the listing of CAREIT on the SGX.
Doubling down on what works
For Bin, this most recent listing of CAREIT is a way to deepen Centurion Group’s strategy.
In the near term, CAREIT is doubling down on what works well, managing purpose-built worker and student housing in stable developed markets. Its investment mandate has also expanded to include similar assets in the living sector, such as built-to-rent and senior housing.
About two-thirds of its current portfolio is based in Singapore, with the rest spread across the UK and Australia, providing a mix of steady local income and overseas growth.
Over the next few years, the company is focused on organic expansion, enhancing existing assets, refreshing leases and carrying out asset enhancements in key properties such as Westlite Toh Guan and Westlite Mandai, which together will add more new beds.
Bin also sees potential in asset enhancement initiatives across some of the assets within the UK portfolio, exploring ways to improve yields and create more value for investors.
CAREIT hopes to play a larger role as a “platform for partnership”.
“We want to leverage the goodwill and brand quality that have been built over the years,” Bin says. “Hopefully, other PBWA owners can see us as a platform to monetise their assets and join us.”
The goal, he adds, is simple: “To grow, but in a disciplined and sustainable way.”
Leadership in practice
Bin’s management philosophy is pragmatic but human-centred. Trained in estate management, he later moved through the financial industry in corporate banking and capital markets before returning to real estate, first into retail malls, real estate development and then into workers and student accommodation.
“After the first few years in the industry,” he says. “I realised real estate is not just nuts and bolts. There’s a software part.”
He is self-effacing about personal style — “I’m not used to talking about myself,” he admits — but clear about principles: trust, accountability and compassion.
“You can say you know a lot of things, but in reality, you rely on a good team,” he says. “It’s important to build trust and harness collective wisdom.”
That ethos often manifests in small, personal interventions. He tells of a young man, once a competitive rugby player, who suffered a head injury and lost cognitive function but showed a gift for art. Recognising his talents, Bin decided to hire him to paint murals across the workers’ accommodations.
To him, such gestures signal the right intent. “In a position of authority and influence, there are things I can do to transform the environment and the work that I do,” he says. “As we do well, we also do good.”
CAREIT’s brand stands for both performance and purpose. Its high occupancy and renewal rates reflect a well-run business, while its focus on resident welfare shows a deeper social commitment.
Centurion Group’s approach has even shaped its approach in line with national standards.
“We, if I may say, helped initiate certain standards and ways of how these assets are run. At the same time, the government also plays a strong leader role, making the final decision on what it expects players to have. We are glad there is a convergence. Though Covid was a rather unfortunate period, yet, the silver lining was that it helped reshape standards for foreign workers’ accommodation,” Bin says.
About Centurion Accommodation REIT
Centurion Accommodation REIT is Singapore’s first pure-play purpose-built living accommodation real estate investment trust (REIT), with a portfolio that provides exposure to Singapore’s purpose-built workers’ accommodation (PBWA) sector, as well as the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) markets in the UK and Australia.
The REIT has an initial portfolio of 14 assets — five PBWA assets in Singapore, eight PBSA assets in the UK and one PBSA in Australia — with an aggregate appraised value of $1.84 billion. With the acquisition of EPIISOD Macquarie Park, a PSBA asset located in Sydney, Australia, the Enlarged Portfolio — the Initial Portfolio and EPIISOD Macquarie Park — will comprise 15 assets valued at approximately $2.12 billion.
Centurion Asset Management is the manager of Centurion Accommodation REIT and a wholly owned subsidiary of its Sponsor, Centurion Corporation.
About kopi-C: The Company Brew
kopi-C is a regular column by SGX Research in collaboration with Beansprout, a MAS-licensed investment advisory platform, that features C-level executives of leading companies listed on the SGX. These interviews are profiles of senior management aimed at helping investors better understand the individuals who run these corporations.
