Stockland Beefs up Melbourne Landbank for Halcyon Estate

Stockland is planning to expand its land lease portfolio after acquiring a substantial greenfield site in Melbourne’s outer suburbs for $47.5 million.

The country’s largest residential developer has restocked its Victorian land bank after picking up a 13ha site at Thompsons Road in Clyde North, 55km south-east of the Melbourne CBD and part of the local Precinct Structure Plan identified for retirement living use.

Stockland is now planning to deliver a 280-home land-lease community, clubhouse and recreational facility within the masterplanned St Germain Estate and next to the future St Germain Town Centre.

The masterplanned development will be built under the Halcyon banner, a Queensland lifestyle villages group it absorbed in a deal worth $620 million midway through last year.

Based on the US land lease model, Halcyon operates a manufactured housing estate business model—buying large plots of land and building houses, which are exclusively sold to people aged over 50.

The model allows customers to purchase their new home outright with no entry or exit fees and pay a site rental fee which covers council rates and includes access to modern community facilities.

The Halcyon business has continued to run separately to Stockland’s retirement holdings and broader land bank.

Stockland communities general manager Kingsley Andrew said the strategic acquisition would take the developer’s portfolio to approximately 9000 land lease community homes across Australia.

“The Clyde North market is experiencing growing buyer demand with solid pricing expectations,” Andrew said.

“The established St Germain Estate provides a perfect opportunity for a Stockland Halcyon community in this growth corridor with access to Melbourne.”

Stockland’s Halcyon brand has two land lease community projects close to the North Clyde development, including Stockland Halcyon Minta in Berwick which is currently under development, and Stockland Halcyon Evergreen in Clyde, which is in planning.

The deal comes amid extremely buoyant conditions in the greenfield land market following sky-high land sales during the past 12 months.

The Victorian land market has undergone a period of boom-and-bust in the years preceding the pandemic, with price rises fuelled by speculators and falls driven by defaults.

According to the latest UDIA report, Melbourne drove the unprecedented level of activity in greenfield land markets in 2021, recording a 125 per cent increase in lot sales to 33,700—44 per cent of the total national market.