In a market first, Brookfield Property Partners has raised $250M (£203M) to develop and refurbish green property projects, as capital markets reward investors with a strong sustainability focus.

Brookfield sold $250M of redeemable perpetual preferred shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange, the company said. This kind of share pays a fixed dividend, 6.4% in this case, and the company can buy the shares back at a fixed price if it wants to.

The proceeds of the share sale will be used to develop or redevelop new and existing projects that have received or are expected to receive LEED Silver or higher, NABERS, BREEAM or equivalent certification.

The money can also be used to help tenants hit sustainability targets or generally improve the energy efficiency of the properties Brookfield manages.

“We strive to minimize the environmental impact of our operations and believe that using resources in a responsible manner preserves our environment and results in significant operational cost savings,” Brookfield Property Partners CEO Brian Kingston said.

Brookfield is the latest big investor to tap capital markets for green capital. Earlier this month Australia’s Queensland Investment Corp. said it had raised $204M (£169M) through a green bond issue, which will be used to make its shopping centres more sustainable.

The green bond market is booming, but the issuance by Brookfield is the first time a real estate company has issued green preference shares.