Land In High Demand From WA Residential Developers

The last remaining development stage of the Byford Central Estate, 33 kilometres south east of Perth has sold for $3.8 million, characterised by consistently high demand for prime residential development sites in WA.

Lot 9017 Larsen Road in Byford represented the final opportunity for an incoming developer to secure the last stages in the boutique estate.

The offering featured current conditional subdivision approval from the West Australian Planning Commission for approximately 79 residential lots and a high number of large, R20 zoned blocks, allowing the purchaser to quickly activate and benefit from immediate returns.

According to

JLL’s Director Sales & Investment WA, Phil Fogliani, the offer attracted eight formal bids at the close of the Expressions of Interest campaign.

“It was a strong result, with particularly high levels of enquiry from smaller private and syndicated residential developers.

“The campaign really confirms the high demand from developers for sites with advanced planning and approvals, and capable of immediate development,” said Mr Fogliani.

JLL’s Head of Sales & Investments WA, Nigel Freshwater, said the sale is indicative of a groundswell of demand from residential developers in WA, as evidenced by JLL’s bumper year in land transactions to date.

“We have either settled or have under-contract over $150.65 million worth of residential development land so far this year. Buyer activity in these transactions and those we have in negotiation confirms demand is set to continue at a high level across the latter half of 2014.

“Further to that, we are also expecting apartment sites will see continued demand as the trend toward apartment-style living in Perth continues to gain momentum,” said Mr Freshwater.

The recent sale of the Civic Triangle site in South Perth for $27.31 million, and 374-396 Murray Street in Perth to international hotel developer Fragrance Group Limited for $40 million, also speaks volumes of developer confidence in the WA market, according to Mr Freshwater.

“The Larsen Road, Byford campaign has demonstrated that on the under bidders alone, there is likely another $20 million in qualified capital actively seeking to secure new projects in WA,” said Mr Fogliani.

Additionally, Mr Fogliani said the campaign highlighted a shift in the market dynamic, seeing mid-tier developers increasingly priced out of substantial sized projects by larger developers.

“As a result the mid-tier developers are showing renewed interest in smaller development projects of 50 to 150 lots, meaning competition is also high for this type of site,” said Mr Fogliani.

“Given we are in negotiations on further residential development transactions totalling an additional $40 million, we are confident of a strong performance through to the end year in the development market,” said Mr Freshwater.