The nation's biggest developer Stockland to boost apartment construction

The residential developer will increase its investment in apartments
The nation's biggest developer Stockland to boost apartment construction
Jonathan ChancellorNovember 8, 2021
Stockland has announced plans to increase its construction of residential apartment and townhouse developments over the next five years. Stockland chief executive Tarun Gupta advised the Stockland initiative will seek to capitalise on the 50 per cent price gap between detached and attached dwellings as immigration levels head back to pre-Covid levels. It anticipates lifting its company capital allocation to residential from its current 15 percent of portfolio to between 20 percent to 35 percent. The increased momentum in residential will be led by Ben Christie, who was headhunted from Lendlease, where he was head of residential. Christie starts as executive general manager of apartments next week. The country’s largest listed residential developer anticipates net overseas migration would drive population would return to pre-Covid levels of 200,000 post 2023. "Major cities will continue to attract the majority of property growth," Gupta advised. It has 75,000 lot land bank, which is split 37 percent in NSW, 31 percent in Queensland, 21 percent in Victoria and 11 percent in WA. Stockland has a $21 billion master planned communities pipeline. Stockland anticipates 6400 residential settlements in fiscal 2022. The company will invest a bigger financial commitment to affordable housing options, including build to rent and land leasing. It anticipates apartment partnerships to "scale origination." The new strategy will see the weighting of residential, workplace and logistics increase from 50 per cent to 70 per cent with the weighting to retail and retirement living cut from 50 per cent to 30 per cent. He announced the ASX listed company will be selling $1 billion to $2 billion in shopping centre and retirement assets.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

Editor's Picks