Greystar Names Tom Livelli Asia Pacific Head Amid Portfolio
US multifamily giant Greystar has appointed former EQT partner Tom Livelli as executive director and head of Asia Pacific, tasking him with leading its
Greystar has appointed Tom Livelli as its executive director and head of Asia Pacific. The former EQT Real Estate partner will lead the US-based firm's regional operations, which currently hold $3.9 billion in assets across Australia, Japan, Korea, and mainland China.
According to a company statement, Livelli's appointment strengthens Greystar's leadership as it enters a new growth phase in the region. Founder and CEO Bob Faith expressed high conviction in the long-term investment case for rental housing in Asia Pacific. He stated that for global investors, the opportunity lies not only in the region's scale but in accessing fundamentally different residential markets and return drivers within a single area.
Livelli takes over an operation that is actively shifting its investment focus. The company is increasing its bets on student housing while exiting a logistics strategy and selling some mainstream rental housing assets in the region. Adam Pillay, the previous leader of Greystar's APAC team, has left the firm.
Leadership and Experience
Tom Livelli is a familiar face at Greystar, having previously spent six years with the company. From 2017 through 2023, he established and led Greystar's South American business, scaling that platform to over $800 million in assets under management. During that period, his team executed 19 investments and secured eight third-party management contracts covering approximately 6,000 units.
For the past three years, Livelli served as head of living strategies for Europe at EQT Real Estate. Greystar's chief investment officer, Wes Fuller, highlighted Livelli's experience building vertically integrated platforms across multiple continents and market cycles.
Livelli will be based in Sydney and assume his new role in early 2027. He will lead around 250 staff overseeing an APAC portfolio of more than 11,500 rental units and beds, as of 30 June 2026.
Regional Expansion and Strategy
Greystar entered the Asia Pacific market in 2017, a year after signing a letter of intent with Macquarie Capital to form a joint venture. Since then, the platform has expanded into new formats and markets. Its growth has been accompanied by a strategic pivot.
The company completed its largest Asia Pacific acquisition to date in April 2025: an A$1.6 billion purchase of a 5,662-bed Australian student housing portfolio from Singapore's GIC and Wee Hur Holdings. In May 2025, it hired Junghwan Kang, a former Samsung SRA Asset Management executive, to head a new Korea business. That same month, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas committed $25 million to Greystar's Asia Pacific value-add vehicle.
This expansion coincides with Greystar winding down other ventures. The firm has sold assets from an Australian infill logistics strategy launched in 2022, including a Sydney-area logistics-development site sold to Gateway Capital for A$78 million in May of this year. It has also trimmed its build-to-rent pipeline in Australia; Warburg Pincus-backed Kio Investment Management recently took over a former Greystar project in Melbourne's Collingwood area.
In Japan, market sources speaking with Mingtiandi indicated that Greystar has been marketing some of its apartment projects to potential investors.
