But even so, the company warned that planning delays could push the scheduled settlement total beyond the July 31 end of financial year. As many as 96 dwellings were scheduled to settle in the last six weeks of the year at the company’s 169-home Lifestyle Kaduna and 246-home Lifestyle Wollert North communities after construction started later than expected.
As settlements hinged on the circumstances of individual buyers – including their ability to sell their existing home to purchase a new one from Lifestyle Communities – this could further delay settlements.
“The company will have better visibility of the number of these homes listed for sale and the likely timing of settlement in the next six to eight weeks and will provide updated guidance at the appropriate time if required,” Mr Kelly said.
Net after tax profit fell 31 per cent to $15.1 million from $22 million as earnings per share dropped to 14.5¢ from 21¢ a year earlier. The shares fell 35¢, or 3.6 per cent, to $9.30 on Tuesday morning.
Lifestyle Communities has so far avoided the problem of delayed settlements that more than a year ago hit its now-delisted peer Aveo Group, when the company now acquired by Canada’s Brookfield said a weaker market – particularly in Sydney – was hurting its clients’ ability to sell their homes and buy into Aveo.
This has in part been because the majority of customers of Lifestyle Communities and its Sydney-based rival, Ingenia Communities, comes from outer Melbourne suburbs that were less hit by the 18-month downturn, ensuring they remained in demand from new buyers seeking large family homes, Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a November 2018 note.
As of December 31, Lifestyle Communities had a portfolio of 3960 homes settled, contracted or in planning across 20 communities in Victoria, the only state where it operates.
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