It’s often said that sky-high property prices could be fixed by the release of more land but a new report suggests this is not the case – and that developers are gaming the system. | EXCLUSIVE carawaters
Think tank Prosper tracked 26,000 sales in nine master-planned communities including Woodlea Estate, Atherstone and Manor Lakes in Melbourne and found only 23.8 per cent of sites had been sold over an average of 9.5 years.
Praveen Mandala bought his block in the Woodlea Estate when it launched in 2015 and says prices are now “shooting up”. He loves living in the development.The investigation by economic think tank Prosper Australia tracked 26,000 sales in nine master-planned communities, including three in Melbourne – Woodlea Estate, Atherstone and Manor Lakes, owned by developers Mirvac, Lendlease and the Dennis Family Corporation. The study found that over 9.5 years, only 23.
Some developments took more than 40 years to complete, and across all the sites Prosper analysed, developments took more than twice the period of time promised at time of release to sell out. “Increasing the supply of new homes is one of many factors that help drive down the cost of buying a home,” she said. “It is disappointing that developers continue to land bank and block the delivery of homes to manipulate the market for profit.”
Mandala loves living at Woodlea and is worried rising prices and the challenge of securing a plot make it difficult for more people to move to the area.Land sales at Woodlea are controlled by the developers, property giant Mirvac and Malaysian group VIP. After launching in 2015 Woodlea was advertised as “Australia’s fastest-selling community” and the development was expected to run over 18 years until 2033.
According to developer Lendlease, as of January this year, Atherstone had sold 63 per cent and settled 54 per cent of total residential lots. Anne Jolic, head of Victoria communities at Lendlease, said Atherstone was a “top-performing” community.
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