Sunland buys Point Cook site for $30 million

Sunland Group Limited has agreed to spend $30 million on a 33.4-hectare block of land in outer-Melbourne suburb Point Cook.

The site is due to be developed into 470 allotments over the next five to seven years.

The acquisition is the latest in a string of land purchases for the company, which spent $19 million on a 7.2-hectare block of land in Victoria’s Springvale and $13 million on a site in Queensland’s Mariner’s Cove.

Managing director of Sunland Sahba Abedian told Property Observer the acquisition is part of itsongoing presence on the subdivision market.

“We’ve had a presence in Melbourne for 12 years. Our operation has extended from urban developments to residential housing and high-rise residential as part of this organic replenishment of our portfolio and having a continued presence in the urban development sector.”

“We felt this opportunity was very befitting and accordingly we think this development at Point Cook will ensure we have an ongoing presence in the subdivision market.”

Point Cook is 25 kilometres south-west of Melbourne and has been the subject of major development over the last 15 years.

Abedian says the area has been the subject of much development and acknowledges state and local government will have to spend time upgrading infrastructure.

“The suburb has been one of the fastest-growing municipalities consistently over the last five years. There’s no doubt it’s experiencing some infrastructure bottlenecks.

"But having that said that, it is still regarded as one of the premier residential enclaves in terms of growth. Over time, council will no doubt address the bottlenecks that have come as a consequence of this fast pace of growth.”

Abedian says the parcel of land is the last developable block of land in the area.

“The reality of this acquisition, when you look at Point Cook strategically, there are not that many large-scale parcels available. This represents one of the last strategic holdings in that corridor.”

“The timing of our delivery project coming online is within the next 12 to 18 months. We’re confident the conditions will continue to bode well even though nationally market conditions are somewhat subdued.”

Sunland has been aggressively buying back its own shares in a bid to push to the value up for shareholders. Fairfax Media reports the company's share has been traded about half stated asset backing since the global financial crisis struck in 2008.

The buyback was put on hold after a poor December result, but the company has since restarted the buyback.

Abedian says the company is on track to reduce the number of shares to 150 million.

“We’ll be maintaining a conservative balance sheet.”

The block of land is at 333 Point Cook Road.