Stockland Tops Up Pipeline with 5900 Lots
Unmet demand in the booming house and land market has led Stockland, the country’s largest listed developer, to restock its pipeline with 5900 lots in the first three months of this year.
Stockland said residential sales jumped by 8 per cent to 1947 lots in the March quarter, prompting the company to forecast 6400 settlements this year, an increase of 18 per cent in residential operating profit.
“We are building on a strong foundation, delivering a statutory profit of $1.1 billon in a testing and challenging environment,” Stockland managing director Tarun Gupta said.
“While we are mindful of the potential for macroprudential measures to have some marginal impact on demand over time, we continue to see very strong levels of enquiry for our residential product.”
The majority of new lots, 5500, were picked up in Western Australia and Victoria, with the consolidation of 400 lots at The Gables in NSW.
Stockland said it was “well positioned” to capitalise on the demand of the “up cycle” with 70 per cent of its current 81,000-lot land bank activated.
The company said the integration of Queensland-based Halcyon, a land lease business developing affordable accommodation for downsizing baby boomers, was also progressing well after the acquisition of the platform for $620 million in July.
“The acquisition demonstrates our determination to leverage our scale, reach and expertise in master-planned communities to create both additional revenue streams and higher quality recurring earnings in the residential sector,” Gupta said.
Stockland now expects to generate approximately 600 land lease settlements annually within three years—double its previous target.
The company has been actively dialing back its exposure to retirement living and retail, looking to recycle assets within each asset class and add to its $33-billion development pipeline—$9 billion of which is now geared towards commercial property.