All Signs Point To Continued Residential Surge

There has been growing number of real estate groups reporting very strong residential sales results for the 2013/2014 year.

ASX-listed leading Australian property development companies

Lend Lease and 

Mirvac are among some that have released their Financial Year 2014, showing increasingly high residential sales levels, further cementing Australia's residential surge.

Lend Lease

Lend Lease reported a profit after tax of $822.9 million for the year ended 2014 and a total $2.5 billion of pre sold revenue across residential apartments and communities.

Lend Lease Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Steve McCann said Lend Lease had delivered a strong financial performance for the year underpinned by its development pipeline and the sale of its interest in the Bluewater Shopping Centre.

“In the last five years we have reshaped and refocused our business to deliver on our strategic objectives, including a significant pipeline of urban regeneration projects," said Mr McCann.

"We made further progress during the year on the Barangaroo South project in Sydney, with 100% pre sales of the first phase of residential apartments and the launch of the third and largest commercial tower with recent leasing commitments from PricewaterhouseCoopers and HSBC.”

“Forward pre sales in our residential development business and embedded returns in our existing pipeline clearly underpin our earnings visibility over the next three years."The Lend Lease development business saw improved residential activity with residential land lot and built-form settlements up 32%.

Commenting on the Group’s financial strength, Group Chief Financial Officer, Tony Lombardo said, “In the last year we have invested significant capital into our development pipeline, with circa 3,000 apartments now under construction across Australia and the UK.

The apartments will progressively complete in fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017, and are a material contributor to Lend Lease's circa $2.5 billion of pre sold revenue.

Mirvac
Mirvac, reported an operating profit after tax of $437.8 million, up 15.9 per cent on 30 June 2013.

There was a continued focus on improving returns in the residential business and carefully restocking the pipeline for future earnings during the financial year.

Residential reached $1.2 billion of exchanged pre-sales contracts on hand, with $979.7 million secured during the period with settlement of 2,482 residential lots.

Mirvac CEO & Managing Director, Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, said “We have $1.2 billion in pre-sale residential contracts on hand, and we continue to see high demand in Sydney and Melbourne, where we maintain an overweight position".

The release of key residential apartment and community projects for Mirvac for the year included, Yarra’s Edge, Array in Victoria which 82.4 per cent pre-sold, Harold Park Precinct 3, Glebe, New South Wales which 98.0 per cent pre-sold and Enclave, Ascot Vale in Victoria which 96.9 per cent of total lots released pre-sold, Alex Avenue in NSW which 97.7 per cent of total lots released pre-sold and Stage 4, Elizabeth Hills in New South Wales which 97.8 per cent of total lots released pre-sold.

Mirvac also reported the acquisition of $248.0 million of prime residential development sites in key locations, comprising 2,671 lots. Approximately 64.0 per cent of lots were acquired in the strong Sydney market.

“We substantially restocked our residential development pipeline over the year, acquiring 2,671 lots in key locations which provides us with excellent visibility for future earnings. We have also been able to acquire a large portion of these projects off-market, achieving good pricing in a highly competitive market."“A focus on urban medium and high density opportunities and a conservative approach to where we acquire will allow us to continue to deliver normalised residential gross margins in the Development division.”