This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AUSTRALIANSUPER, the nation’s largest superannuation fund, could pocket an even bigger windfall from the sale of an unused Melbourne golf course after the state government’s sudden reversal this week, following a protracted nine-year battle with local NIMBY residents and the council, which forced the fund to give up on its development aspirations and walk away.
This week as part of the government’s Victoria’s Housing Statement – The Decade Ahead 2024-2034, which has set a target to deliver 800,000 new homes over 10 years, the government suddenly approved the housing subdivision plans to develop the Kingswood Golf Course.
AustralianSuper, which manages $300 billion for three million people, bought the Kingswood Golf Course site, in the sandbelt region, in 2014 for $100 million.
As previously reported by Australian Property Journal, the super fund put the property on market after its plans to rezone the land and build hundreds of homes stalled.
Attempts to rezone the land and build more than 800 homes were first blocked in 2018 when Kingston Council yielded to the objections of 8,000 residents and abandoned rezoning. The decision was then put in the hands of then-Planning Minister Richard Wynne.
A special advisory committee set up for the land made recommendations, but its report never saw the light of day. It is currently with Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny.
The sudden reversal could deliver an even bigger windfall for AustralianSuper as the site is located in Dingley Village, one of Melbourne’s tightest land markets where development sites of this scale are rare. Colliers’ Trent Hobart, Hamish Burgess, Michael Gardiner and Joe Kairouz are handling the sale campaign.
Population growth and a housing supply shortage has seen demand for development sites continue to increase, particularly after the government announced plans to build 80,000 new homes per year for the next decade.
Australian Property Journal recently reported that developer Growland has quietly made almost $300 million from two major housing subdivision sites. One site in Moorabool, it acquired for $49.76 million and flipped almost two years later for $176 million, making a 250% profit.
In April this year the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows Melbourne has overtaken Sydney as Australia’s most populous city, with a population at 4,875,400 – 18,700 more than Sydney.
The government’s Victoria In Future data shows that despite the COVID lockdown, the state remains the fastest-growing in the country with the population expected to reach 10.3 million by 2051.
The state needs to see an additional 2.24 million homes in that time, including a target of 425,500 in regional and rural areas.
