Frasers Unlocks Land Bank for 2150-Lot Housing Estate

Development near Queensland’s largest release of residential land is ramping up with Frasers Property planning a 2150-lot development from its Australian landbank.

Flagstone, 50km south of Brisbane, was identified as a key part of Queensland’s Covid-recovery strategy with 27,000 lots there unlocked in mid-2021, attracting the attention of major developers.

Frasers paid $80 million for 250ha of land in the nearby suburb of New Beith from Peet Limited, with the sale expected to be completed in October this year.

The Singapore Exchange-listed company detailed its Australian pipeline, currently with $678 million (SGD$658 million) invested in it, in a recent business update.

Five development projects were added to Frasers’ pipeline at the start of the year, giving the company a running total of six projects across 232,000sq m in Victoria, three in NSW across 120,000 and four projects across Queensland, not including New Beith.

Meanwhile, Peet also expanded its footprint in Flagstone, taking 100 per cent ownership of its Flagstone City project.

▲ The $6.7-billion Flagstone City project by Peet will be the central hub of the priority development area which is half the size of Brisbane.

The ASX-listed company purchased Spirit Super’s half stake in the development for $46.15 million on New Year’s Eve for the remaining 10,500 lots.

Peet chief executive Brendan Gore said they were managing their significant landbank in the region.

“The [New Beith] property was not on the company’s short- to medium-term development program and has been sold at a price which is an 83 per cent premium [net of transaction costs] to book value, providing strong market evidence of embedded value in Peet’s national landbank,” Gore said.

“We seek to manage our landbank in a manner that optimises the return on the capital employed and this sale follows our recent announcement of the acquisition of the balance of the Flagstone City project.”