HK-listed Aoyuan not deterred by slowing housing market, buys sites for $100m

In a move to diversify away from apartment development, one of the sites is a 28.2-hectare landholding sub-divided for 167 lots on Great Southern Road at Bargo in NSW’s Southern Highlands. Aoyuan launched it as its first house and land project “Coomeroo Estate” last month with sites ranging from 700 to 5000 square metres.

“We see this as a great location for families wanting to tree-change and stay close to key employment centres like Campbelltown and Wollongong and the early sales have certainly demonstrated there’s strong demand for room to move,” director and vice-president of Aoyuan International, Adrian Liaw, said.

“We still have a lot of faith in the apartment market. However, certain districts are beginning to show weaknesses in demand.”

In Hurstville in Sydney’s south west, the group went a step further on from residential development to hotels, buying a site bounded by Forest Road, Durham Street and Roberts Lane close to Westfield Hurstville that will yield a 110- to 130-room hotel and a 350-apartment mixed-use tower with ground floor retail. The project is due for sale in 2019.

And in inner-west Sydney, Aoyuan will build a 107-apartment project on a 4000 sq m site in Burwood, within walking distance to the local Westfield mall.

These three projects join Aoyuan’s current portfolio, which includes ONE30, mid-rise apartment projects Maison 188 in Maroubra in the Sydney eastern suburbs and Mirabell in Turramurra in the north.

Altogether the developer has $600 million in Australian projects in the pipeline.