The National Property Trust was established in April 1994 as an unlisted property trust to own and manage a property portfolio of commercial and industrial buildings in New Zealand cities.

The Trust’s units were listed on the NZX in December 1996. At the time of listing, the Trust owned five properties and had total assets of $38.1 million. From listing through to March 2001 it purchased three further properties bringing the total value of its assets to $65.2m comprised of both commercial and industrial properties. At that time two properties were situated in Wellington and the others were in the South Island.

In April 2001 the Trust acquired the assets and assumed the liabilities of Southway Properties Limited whose principal assets were two Christchurch retail complexes, Eastgate Shopping Centre and Hornby Mall. A successful takeover in 2003 of the Newmarket Property Trust secured a further three Auckland properties; the Rialto Heart of Broadway, Carlton DFK Centre in Newmarket and the AA Centre in the Auckland CBD. In December 2005 St Laurence Limited acquired the Manager of the Trust, The National Property Trust Limited. In 2007, in order to rebalance its portfolio and improve the Weighted Average Lease Term, the Trust purchased the Heinz Watties industrial warehouse in Hastings and also sold the Multiplex property in Dunedin. In 2008 the Trust sold CSI Logical House in Wellington and in September of the same year the Gill Street, New Plymouth office building was sold. In late 2009 the Trust sold the Rialto Centre and the Carlton DFK building, both located in Newmarket, Auckland and the Goddards Centre and adjoining Dumbarton building in Tauranga. The Trust’s investment property portfolio now consists of a diverse range of quality properties by type and location, with a net market value of $191.2 million as at 31 March 2010.