Stockland sees new home buyer motivation beyond government stimulus

The country’s largest property developer says demand for new dwellings is more widespread than that spurred by government stimulus policies.

Stockland chief executive Mark Steinert told shareholders the company had come through the worst of the coronavirus crisis. 

“Importantly as the economic and business environment has improved towards pre-COVID levels, industry support measures such as the Commercial Code of Conduct and HomeBuilder concluded at the end of the quarter without emerging evidence of material adverse outcomes,” Steinert advised.

“We think there‘s a lot of owner occupied demand and first time buyer demand that ultimately ended up being deferred, and it’s that demand that really got stimulated by HomeBuilder, and by the improved availability of credit,” the Stockland boss told The Australian.

Stockland expects to settle 6300 homes this year after low interest rates, government incentives and credit availability drove sales higher over the three months to March.

The country’s largest listed developer advised settlements were already up on last year’s 5878 tally.

Stockland’s strong net March quarter sales result of 1891 lots was up 69 per cent on the same quarter last year.

Steinert noted "the best affordability in all the key markets that we’ve seen in a decade.”

But he warned that Sydney and southeast Queensland were the most supply constrained markets, with the NSW capital having only about five years worth of serviced land.