News

September 13, 2017 | IN Media Release and News | BY AVID | 3 min read

AVID Property Group has its sights firmly set on Sydney and Melbourne middle ring suburbs as it pushes ahead with the growth strategy announced late last year.

The housing and industrial developer, bought in 2015 by the international equity firm Propium Capital, last year embarked on an aggressive growth plan to triple the value of the business to more than $1 billion over the next five years.

Despite much market commentary about apartment oversupply in some sub-markets, AVID CEO Cameron Holt said he was very confident in the market conditions in NSW and Victoria and was actively seeking deals in those markets.

Mr Holt is also keen to see AVID restock its NSW land bank which has seen a run on product with recent strong trading.

Market activity in Sydney is strong, with a recent report by Charter Keck Cramer predicting an historic high of more than 30,000 apartments to be delivered in 2018.

“These reports are telling us that despite strong demand and developer appetite, ongoing site scarcity and planning regulations will keep supply levels capped within Sydney and key apartment precincts will continue to emerge in middle ring markets,” Mr Holt said.

“Our plan is to increase our stock of medium density, multi-residential projects developments in those middle ring city suburbs where there is ongoing demand for the right quality apartment offering.

“And our focus will be on owner occupiers, rather than the inner-city investor market, with recent insights showing that, within the middle ring markets, owner occupiers have comprised the bulk of purchases.”

AVID has put a call out for agents and vendors to bring deals for land and apartments in middle ring and fringe areas of Sydney and Melbourne

“We have a number of targeted acquisitions in due diligence right now which could reflect a potential project value of $250 million,” he said.

AVID already has a pipeline of around $3 billion including more than 8500 residential lots and more than 640 hectares of industrial land.

The developer made its first strike into re-entering the humming Sydney apartment market in late 2016 with the acquisition of a 40-unit apartment site on Flinders Street in Surry Hills.

AVID NSW Project Director Nathan Huon said AVID had made no secret of its appetite for growth in the state.

“The Sydney and Melbourne markets offer an opportunity to strengthen our foothold in places that have strong fundamentals with relatively high levels of net migration, low unemployment and strong economic performance,” Mr Huon said.

“The Flinders Street project is a unique opportunity to meet continued demand for apartments in a strong local market as well as regenerate a derelict service station and add further amenity to an already vibrant area of the city.”

Mr Huon is responsible for executing AVID’s NSW acquisition strategy and said AVID had a key criteria list for potential sites.

“We’re chasing sites to accommodate 50 to 150 mid-rise apartments or land subdivision opportunities to house 500 lots.

“That’s the sweet spot for us.”

Mr Huon said AVID was keen to deliver on its medium density strategy by partnering with key designers in each of the locations to ensure the company’s projects were market relevant.