Land developers are embracing inland areas and different housing types in a bid to meet the state’s housing needs.
Perth’s preference for detached housing along the coastline may need some recalibration as land developers move beyond the long-favoured planning model.
While areas on the state’s western fringe remain popular with homebuyers, and developers are working in those corridors where they can, the reduced availability of land in those areas has the potential to change behaviour.
A recent Urban Development Institute of Australia study identified East Wanneroo, North Ellenbrook, Bullsbrook, East Wellard and Mundijong as key growth areas for land projects.
The industry body said increased infrastructure investment in these areas could unlock 89,500 new homes in the next four years.
This led to the state government’s $400 million Enabling Infrastructure Fund, announced in December last year, which promises to aid the delivery of water and power to Perth’s growth corridors.
Developers have welcomed the fund but say more needs to be done to accelerate the delivery of housing.
Satterley Property Group chief executive Nigel Satterley said a lack of resources on the ground was hampering the delivery of land projects.
“One of the biggest issues is [with] Western Power,” Mr Satterley told Business News.
“It’s better than it was, and the premier and the [lands] minister have taken good leadership with that, [but] you would find wherever you go, Western Power’s an issue.
“For us … going back, say, five years, we built a stage efficiently in six months, now it’s taking ten to eleven [months], because a shortage of men, not machinery, men, not materials, it’s all manpower, workers.”
Mr Satterley, whose eponymous company topped Data & Insights’ land developers list, was referring to the delays connecting sites to electricity, which has become more pronounced since COVID.
Western Power recently told Business News it was working with industry to “bring forward the energisation of land development projects” and improve the flow of information for developers.
Satterley cemented its dominance in the state’s land development sector following its agreement to take on LWP Group’s projects in late 2023.
In the 12 months to January 31, Satterley’s net sales amounted to 2,733 lots.
Its top estates by region were Catalina in the north west metropolitan area, with 275 sales, Clementine, north east of Perth, with 258 lots, and Florence in Mandogalup, with 175 lot sales.
South east of Perth, 185 lots sold at The Glades and in Peel 441 lots sold at Ocean Hill.
Satterley also recently received federal environmental approval for its controversial North Stoneville plan.
The proposal, which comprises about 1,000 lots on more than 500 hectares of land owned by the Anglican Church diocese, is in a state of planning limbo after several rejections by authorities.
Mr Satterley told Business News the company intended to continue with the development, which he saw as a quality product that generated strong demand.
“We’ve just got to do our best and go through the statutory process,” he said.
Satterley operates across Perth, Melbourne and Queensland, with its highest proportion of lots in the Western Australian capital.
By value however, Satterley’s portfolio is weighted to Melbourne, where it has $1.7 billion in projects under development.
This compares to WA, where the company has $1.4 billion of land, and Queensland with $400 million.
Mr Satterley said demand in Melbourne had fallen significantly in recent years, which led developers to shift their focus to other parts of the country.
“The Melbourne market peaked three-and-a-half years ago, at 34,100 lots,” he said.
“We believe the underlying demands is 16,000 to 18,000 lots per annum … [and] … it’s currently running at about 6,700 to 7,000 lots.”
Satterley’s lot settlements increased by about 30 per cent in WA in the past 12 months, in line with industry trends.
Recent UDIA figures showed the sale of 11,168 lots in the Perth metropolitan area last year; a 38.5 per cent increase on 2023.
This exceeded the previous record of 10,189 lots, set in 2013.
However, lot sales reduced in the final quarter of 2024 by 1.2 per cent, to 2,418, from 2,536 the same time last year.
Urbis property economics and market research director David Cresp said this trend was expected to continue.
“Land market sales volumes are expected to decline from the peak levels of activity experienced in 2024 but will remain solid compared to historical levels,” he said.
“This moderation is indicative of the market stabilising after a period of intense growth.”
Mr Satterley added that his company’s biggest year in WA was 2008, when the company delivered about 5,000 lots.
Satterley is diversifying its product base with the proliferation of green spaces, including dog parks, and the development of smaller townhouse lots.
Mr Satterley said he was sticking to single-storey products, however.
“Builders don’t want to do two storey at the moment,” he said.
Density push
Land developers are increasingly focused on infill projects after a long period of detached housing construction along WA’s coastline.
“The reality is ... we can’t keep sprawling forever,” UDIA WA chief executive Tanya Steinbeck told Business News.
“There needs to be some consolidation, and we know and accept that.
“It’s about having choice and making sure that we take a balanced approach, and we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, especially in a housing crisis, and say we’re not going to do any more growth areas or greenfield development because we want all infill.
“The reality is the market can’t deliver that at the moment, so we need to take a bit more of a pragmatic approach to make sure we just have the volume of homes we need, rather than taking an either-or kind of position.”
Nathan Blackburne says medium to high density is a big focus for Cedar Woods. Photo: Michael O’Brien
Listed developer Cedar Woods Properties is planning to roll out apartment projects in WA, while Peet and Stockland have a strong focus on townhomes.
Cedar Woods has completed its Incontro townhouse project in Subiaco and is planning to deliver close to 350 apartments across two projects on nearby sites.
Cedar Woods managing director Nathan Blackburne told Business News there was a growing demand for apartments and townhouses.
“The Australian dream is building a house on your own block, and that’s where the vast majority of demand sits for new housing,” he said.
“That will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future.
“There is an increasing proportion of demand for smaller product in the form of townhouses and apartments.
“With greater regulatory support for more density, we will progressively see a greater proportion of that style of product.”
Stockland general manager WA residential Col Dutton, who served as UDIA president from 2019 to 2023, said having both greenfields and infill housing was important.
“It’s not one of the other; it’s actually both,” he said.
“People have to have the choice.
“I’m not a huge fan of the term urban sprawl, it kind of implies that it all just sprawls out … [but] … there’s years of planning.
“I think that’s probably Stockland’s strength is that we focus on the whole community, not just the individual lot or house or park.”
Industry roadblocks
Ms Steinbeck said infrastructure constraints remained a key concern for industry.
“Water and power are the obvious [issues]; sewer as well,” she said.
“Some areas are worse than others, particularly in the water space.
“It’s about getting the agencies to forward plan.”
Ms Steinbeck said the state’s utilities should be tackling infrastructure planning in areas ahead of zoning changes: for example when an area is zoned ‘urban deferred’.
“By the time [an area] is actually rezoned, then it’s another couple of years on top of the rezoning process just to get the infrastructure commitment,” she said.
“It keeps pushing out. Then you get these bottlenecks in land supply.”
UDIA’s report into Perth’s infrastructure requirements identified that wastewater pump stations, upgrades to roads and transmission lines and other key upgrades were needed in Perth’s north-east, north-west and southern corridors.
Developers have invested in these areas on the back of population growth forecasts.
Among these are Victoria-headquarted Wolfdene, which entered the WA market with an acquisition of South Yunderup land from Satterley Property Group in 2019.
Late last year, Wolfdene bought a 72ha parcel of land in Bullsbrook for $30 million.
The purchase paves the way for Wolfdene and investment partner Oreana Group to develop $300 million of housing for up to 2,000 residents in the area referred to as North Ellenbrook.
The Bullsbrook acquisition followed Wolfdene’s purchase of a 146-lot site in Wellard with Blueways Group for $7.5 million.
This year, Wolfdene announced its entry into East Wanneroo with the purchase of a 155-lot site.
Speaking to Business News, Wolfdene general manager WA Mitchell Brown said the company sought out land in areas with existing infrastructure.
“We really look at … locations that are close by to existing amenity or planned amenity, so we like the north-west corridor for the coast and the train,” he said.
“We like North Ellenbrook the north-east corridor, because [of] the Ellenbrook train line.
“Wellard is in a good location [being a] pretty established area [with] schools, near Kwinana and Rockingham.”
Wolfdene and Oreana Group bought a 73ha parcel of land north of Ellenbrook for $30 million. Photo: Wolfdene
Growing players
Mr Brown said Wolfdene expanded its WA portfolio as the Victorian market softened.
“At the moment [our portfolio weighting] is fifty-fifty [WA/ Victoria], but five years ago it would have been ninety per cent Victoria,” he said.
“We still have a really strong appetite for WA.
“Victoria, while that market will improve eventually, it’s still challenging.”
Mr Brown said the company targeted 100-lot projects up to those in the thousands.
Dale Alcock’s Parcel Property has focused solely on land development since June 2023 when it scrapped its apartment arm.
The company expects to deliver about 1,000 lots this year, compared with about 190 in 2016.
Parcel Property general manager land development Jeremy Cordina said the business would grow to about 1,500 lots in about three years.
He said Parcel’s focus was on its estates in Mundijong and North Ellenbrook, both of which were directly affected by the government’s $400 million package.
“North Ellenbrook is about three or four years away, but for Mundijong it was a bit more of an immediate resolution where we were able to get funding for a sewer pump station,” Mr Cordina said.
“Since then, we’ve sold 100 blocks and we’ve 200 [lots] in earthworks. “It [the $400 million fund] has really released the pressure valve in that location.”
In Mundijong, he said, Parcel was able to provide house-and-land packages for about $600,000.
“That price point doesn’t exist [elsewhere] in the Perth market. It’s pretty much the lowest price point. As a result, demand is strong,” he said.
“We can’t meet [demand], releasing fifty lots every quarter.”
Hesperia has also increased its focus on land development in recent years.
The Ben Lisle-led company is set to grow its footprint in WA’s land development sector (see page 46), with sites in Viveash, West Ellenbrook and East Wanneroo.
Parcel Property is rolling out affordable lots in Mundijong. Photo: Parcel Property
