Larry SchlesingerReporter
Mar 24, 2020 – 6.00pm
Rich lister Nigel Satterley and his co-investors have swooped on almost $200 million of development sites in Greater Perth and Melbourne, as they prepare for a rise in housing demand after the coronavirus pandemic passes.
At Madora Bay in the City of Mandurah, Satterley Property Group has acquired a 143-hectare oceanfronting project for $52.25 million from the Perry family.
The family are operators of local real estate firm H&N Perry and have been subdividing land in Mandurah since the 1950s.
The infill site, 45 minutes from Perth, has about one kilometre of direct beach frontage and can support 1750 lots.
The Madora Bay site will support a 1750-lot residential oceanfront project.
Mr Satterley said it was one of the largest acquisitions made by his company in Western Australia for many years.
Despite a “difficult period” for the residential housing market, he told The Australian Financial Review there was still strong support from his syndicate investors to “buy sensibly for the future”.
“We are in challenging times, but rest assured it’s business as usual, we hope to start construction [at Madora Bay] soon and commence sales in spring,” he said.
The masterplanned community will include a retail centre, beach café and primary and secondary schools. Less than one kilometre away, the Lakelands train station on the Mandurah Line into Perth is due to open in 2023.
The Mandurah acquisition follows Satterley paying $14.58 million for a nine-hectare landholding in Perth’s northern growth corridor of Wanneroo.
The 200-lot infill site adjacent to Lake Joondalup, which Satterley has branded ‘Myella’ was acquired from Perth school operator, Catholic Education WA.
In Melbourne, where Satterley has a large development business, it has struck deals to acquire about 135 hectares of land across two sites – one in the south-east and the other in northern growth corridor – for around $130 million.
Combined, the two sites can support around 1850 lots with construction expected to commence within three years.
Mr Satterley said he could not comment on either of these Melbourne deals due to strict confidentiality agreements with the vendors.
But, he said, the company’s strategy was to “heavily expand its market share in Melbourne over the next few years”.
Prior to the worsening of the pandemic, Mr Satterley said lot sales were picking up in Melbourne – from a low of 500 to 800 sales a month – and also rising slowly in Perth.
“I predict that Melbourne lot prices will drop a further three to five per cent as we work through the oversupply of stock and high cancellations this year,” he said at the start of March.
Satterley currently has five housing estates under development in Melbourne, more than a dozen in Perth and three in Queensland.