Villa World expands Redland Bay workbook as sales spike

Leading residential developer Villa World continues to expand its considerable presence in Brisbane’s Redland Bay with the purchase of its sixth project in the region for $16.5 million.The purchase of the 8.79-hectare Weinam Street parcel will house Seascape, a 200-plus lot subdivision comprising house-and-land and townhouse product.It is Villa World’s second acquisition in the high-growth Redland corridor in 2015 following a heavily oversubscribed capital raising in January which raised $31.7 million.The acquisitions come as Villa World reports a stellar sales quarter across its national projects portfolio, recording 246 sales in the third quarter of the 2015 financial year (3Q15) at an average of 82 sales per month.Villa World CEO and managing director Craig Treasure said the purchase was part of the company’s ongoing growth strategy in the Bayside and would further replenish inventory levels to meet sales targets.“We have had two consecutive quarters of strong sales and now that our inventory levels are being replenished we are looking to maintain this trajectory,” said Mr Treasure.“We see the Bayside area as a very strong market and this is reflected in the fact that a third of our sales nationally are occurring in this region.“The Seascape project will provide our buyers with further choice in a growing area that is renowned for its strong local employment prospects as well as lifestyle attributes of recreation and relaxation.”Villa World state manager Queensland, Michael Vinodolac said Seascape would be a low maintenance quality estate that would attract downsizers.“We intend to build house-and-land packages with high level finishes similar to those provided in our ERA community not far away at Capalaba,” he said.Seascape product will be attractive to a diverse range of buyers with single level low maintenance properties starting in the $400,000s up to large, high-set homes with bay views priced in the late $500,000s to early $600,000s.Villa World’s other projects in the Bayside include Mt Cotton Village, Era at Capalaba, Waterline at Thornlands, Ellabay in Redland Bay, Boundary Rd Thornlands (yet to be named) and the recently completed East Ridge, also at Thornlands.Located less than 200m from the shores of Moreton Bay and less than 35 kilometres from Brisbane CBD, the Weinam Street parcel was purchased from a receiver. The parcel directly adjoins the Weinam Harbour Priority Development Area, which was recently announced by the State Government and Redland City Council.Settlement of the purchase is scheduled for April 2015 and the subsequent development is expected to start contributing to revenue in FY17.In February Villa World paid $10.5 million for a site at Thornlands, near the Waterline development. The 7-hectare site will be developed as premium land-only and is expected to yield 86 lots.Since its $31.7 million capital raising in January, Villa World has announced the acquisition of 292 lots worth $27 million, bringing total restocking in FY15 to 2701 lots worth $130.6 million.New projects in the Villa World portfolio released over the last six months are selling at or above forecast – making up 214 of the 598 sales in the financial year to date.The increased development portfolio and strong market conditions support a lifted sales target of between 1000 and 1200 lots per annum in FY16.Villa World has a market capitalisation of $250 million and was included in the ASX300 index in its March re-weighting.Established in 1986, Villa World is Queensland’s oldest ASX-listed developer and one of Australia’s largest housing providers.