Revival Sparks Sales Spike

National developer Stockland has recorded a 60% increase in new housing sales in the last three months of 2019, with residential property and retirement living expected to continue to deliver strong results.

The housing market has rebounded since July making Stockland’s results consistent with other market measures – new loan commitments have increased on the back of interest rate cuts, house prices in most major cities are rising and first-home buyers are finding their way into the market.

Stockland chief executive Mark Steinert says the group has a large pipeline of active projects with over 4,200 contracts on hand.

“We have indicated in this release that in FY2021 we expect a significant lift in settlement volumes to over 5,800, which is moving up towards the top of the cyclical range that we’ve seen historically,” Steinert says.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the outlook for the apartment markets in Sydney, Perth and Canberra is promising and though buyer confidence has rebounded in Melbourne, inner city apartment development remains challenging.