Stockland pays $75m for site in Melbourne's north
Larry Schlesinger and Michael Bleby
Development giant Stockland has paid almost $1 million a hectare to acquire a 77-hectare land parcel adjacent to its $2 billion Highlands residential community at Craigieburn in Melbourne’s northern growth corridor.
Stockland paid $75 million for the site at 1780 Mickleham Road which was offloaded by the Cicerale family. The developer will pay the family progressively over the next five and a half years.
The acquisition continues Stockland’s eager push into the Melbourne land market – the country’s biggest and most affordable new housing market with a median lot price about half that of Sydney.
Last month, Stockland snapped up an 11.5-hectare site in the city’s middle ring northern suburbs for $62 million for a townhouse development while in December it acquired the 114-hectare southern portion of the Baillieu family’s Minta Farm in Melbourne’s south-east for between $150 million and $200 million
Stockland’s Victorian head Mike Davis said the additional Craigieburn site with capacity for 950 lots, along with another 80.4-hectare parcel of land on Mickleham Road, which Stockland acquired in August 2015, meant the Highlands community would “not be far off” the neighbouring 11,000-lot Cloverton community planned across the Hume Highway.
Both parcels of land will be consolidated to form part of the adjacent 9000-home Highlands community, where about 60 per cent of available lots have been sold and developed to date.
“We’re increasing our strategic investment in Victoria,” Stockland managing director and CEO Mark Steinert said.
“Melbourne offers an excellent affordability advantage to buyers and the market is strengthening. Our latest land acquisition in Craigieburn will further extend the trading life of Highlands, our most successful and highly sought-after residential community in Victoria,” he said.
The latest deal means Stockland – the country’s biggest residential developer – now controls a total of more than 20,000 residential lots within Melbourne’s northern growth corridor.
Its residential business has benefited from strong housing conditions on the Australian east coast, and it made 2853 settlements in the half year to December.
The developer has a strong focus on providing new housing for first-home buyers with house-and-land packages priced around $450,000 in Melbourne.
“At Highlands in the last 12 months alone, we have made home ownership a reality for approximately 400 first home buyers,” Mr Steinert said.
“The advantage of buying into a more mature community, such as Highlands, is that it already has well established, nearby retail facilities, a medical precinct, numerous excellent schools, parks, playgrounds, world-class sporting facilities and comprehensive road and rail transport options.
