Latest news with #GemLife
AU Financial Review
12 hours ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
This migrant family business will knock off Virgin as the biggest IPO
While we've written plenty about Virgin Australia's re-listing, the bigger IPO in front of fund managers this week is family-owned Queensland property developer and a cracking Australian migrant story, GemLife. GemLife's roots stretch back to the late 1960s, when Peter Puljich and his now late wife Zdravka moved from Croatia to Sydney's Bondi, following a stint in a Villawood detention centre. Puljich taught himself to render on Bondi Beach's then brick toilet block: 'He used to render it, wash it down, re-render,' son Adrian Puljich says.
AU Financial Review
3 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
‘IPO window definitely open' says CEO who secured a $250m listing
It's initial public offering time of year and, for a change, there's a bit to write about. After a few dull years, airline Virgin Australia, over-50s resort builder GemLife and gold miner Greatland Gold and their bankers are all out rustling up fund manager interest this week in what we'd say was the busiest week for Australian IPOs and IPO roadshows in the past four years.
Straits Times
25-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Singtel hits five-year high; no reprieve for Yangzijiang as stock slides further
Singtel has hit more than half of its $6 billion mid-term asset recycling target and is now raising this target to $9 billion. ST PHOTO: TARYN NG SINGAPORE - Shares of Singtel hit a five-year high of $3.99 on May 22, after the company announced it had proposed a final dividend of 10 cents per share for the financial year ended March 31. The proposal brought total dividends for the year to 17 cents, up from 15 cents in the previous year. Singtel also said it will buy back up to $2 billion of its shares over three years to return excess capital to shareholders. It added that the buybacks will be funded by excess capital from the group's asset recycling proceeds. Following its divestment of a 1.2 per cent stake in its Indian associate Bharti Airtel for $2 billion earlier in May, Singtel has hit more than half of its $6 billion mid-term asset recycling target and is now raising this target to $9 billion. The company reported a net profit of $4.02 billion for the financial year, more than five times that of the previous year. This was due to a net exceptional gain of $1.55 billion, mainly from the partial divestment of its Comcentre headquarters, compared with a net exceptional loss of $1.47 billion a year ago. Shares of Singtel were heavily traded through the week, and closed on May 23 at $3.88. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding continued to slide last week. The shipbuilder's shares have been falling ever since a US proposal to impose fees on Chinese-built vessels entering American ports was announced on Feb 21, the same day the shares hit an all-time high of $3.22. In a business update on May 22, Yangzijiang reported securing only six new ship orders worth US$290 million (S$372 million) in the first quarter of 2025 – less than 5 per cent of its US$6 billion annual target. The company attributed the slowdown to ship owners holding back amid uncertainty over US port fees. Yangzijiang also noted that it remains on track to deliver its targeted 56 vessels in 2025 and holds an order book valued at US$23.2 billion, with deliveries scheduled over the next three years. Nevertheless, its shares fell by more than 6 per cent through the week, closing on May 23 at $2.06. Thakral jumps on possible IPO of Australia associate Shares of Thakral Corporation jumped by more than 16 per cent to $1 on May 23, after providing an update on its associate company, GemLife, an over-50s lifestyle resorts business in Australia in which it holds a 31.7 per cent effective stake. Thakral said GemLife has made progress in evaluating its future growth options, including a potential initial public offering (IPO). The update follows an April 7 exchange filing, in which Thakral issued a clarification in response to an article published by the Australian Financial Review on April 2. The article had said that GemLife's owners have appointed financial advisers as well as representatives to arrange introductory meetings with investors as they explore a potential IPO. Thakral stated then that while introductory meetings with investors are being planned regarding GemLife, there is no certainty that any transaction will take place. In its first-quarter business update on May 19, Thakral, which invests in real estate and lifestyle brands, revealed that its revenue for the period had risen by 26.6 per cent year on year to $76 million. Meanwhile, its profit before tax was up 27.6 per cent to $6.3 million over the period, thanks to higher profit contributions from GemLife, which completed 58 new homes in its resorts during the quarter, taking the number of occupied homes it operates to 1,862 as at March 31. Great Eastern gets more time to restore its free float Insurer Great Eastern Holdings said on May 23 that it has been granted a third extension of time to comply with free float requirements under Singapore Exchange listing rules. The insurer now has until June 8 to announce its finalised proposal to comply with the rules and will issue an announcement on the matter 'no later' than that. Great Eastern noted in its stock exchange filing that it has been exploring various options to formulate a proposal that meets the minimum 10 per cent free float requirement and addresses the interests of stakeholders. It added that it has made 'significant progress' on that front. Shares of Great Eastern have been suspended from trading since July 2024, after the company lost its free float following a takeover bid by its majority shareholder OCBC Bank. OCBC in May 2024 made a $1.4 billion voluntary unconditional general offer for the remaining 11.56 per cent stake in Great Eastern that it did not already own. At the close of the offer in July 2024 however, the bank had managed to accumulate just 93.52 per cent of the insurer, falling short of the 95 per cent stake required for compulsory acquisition and delisting. Some minority shareholders, who say OCBC's offer price for Great Eastern of $25.60 per share is below what the insurer is worth, have refused to sell their shares. They have also noted an independent financial adviser's opinion that the offer, while reasonable, is nevertheless unfair. Great Eastern Holdings has been granted a third extension of time to comply with free float requirements under Singapore Exchange listing rules. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG Meanwhile, chief executive of Cosmosteel Holdings Ong Tong Hai has been purchasing shares of the steel company in the open market. Between May 20 and May 23, Mr Ong purchased around 6.4 million Cosmosteel shares, raising his stake in the company to 16.98 per cent. Notably, at 21.87 cents to 22 cents each, the price paid by Mr Ong for the shares is higher than an ongoing offer of 20 cents per share made by an entity called 3HA Capital. 3HA Capital comprises parties including Hanwa Singapore, a subsidiary of Tokyo-listed steel trader Hanwa Co, which is Cosmosteel's single largest shareholder with a 31.61 per cent stake. While 3HA Capital's offer price of 20 cents is 48.1 per cent higher than Cosmosteel's share price of 13.5 cents on May 14, it is still a discount to the company's net asset value per share of 29.31 cents as at March 31. 3HA Capital has said that it plans to continue to develop and grow Cosmosteel's existing businesses and keep the company listed. However, if it receives more than 90 per cent of Cosmosteel's shares, it might then exercise the right to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares and delist the company. Other market movers Shares of Metro Holdings, which had initially surged at the start of the week, fell 1.2 per cent to close at 41 cents on May 23, after the real estate investment company reported losses for the year ended March 31. Metro Holdings reported losses for the year ended March 31. PHOTO: ST FILE Metro reported a loss after tax of $224.7 million for the period compared with a profit of $14.6 million in the previous year, due to reductions in the value of its property portfolio in China, where the economy continued to experience a downturn. Group revenue, which was mainly generated by sales at the Metro Paragon and Metro Causeway Point department stores in Singapore, fell by almost 10 per cent year on year to $104.5 million. As a result, the retail division reported a loss after tax of $6.9 million for the year compared with a profit of $1.8 million in the previous year, amid challenges confronting Singapore's retail sector, Metro CEO Yip Hoong Mun said. Shares of Food Empire continued to rise last week. They reached a five-year high of $1.80 on May 20, before closing the week at $1.77. Analysts have turned bullish on Food Empire since the company announced on May 13 higher revenues for the first quarter, driven by strong sales of its instant coffee products in Vietnam. In contrast, they are now less bullish over Thai Beverage, whose shares have lost value due to weaker margins and consumer sentiment in recent years. They closed last week at 46 cents, down by more than 2 per cent. What to look out for this week Shares of Sats could see some trading activity this week, after the company reported on May 23 after the market closed a net profit of $243.8 million for the year ended March 31. The company saw its profit rising by more than four times from a year ago, thanks to 'notable customer wins across (Sats') network, including multiple new cargo and ground handling contracts secured with key customers such as Air India, Emirates and DHL in major airports', CEO Kerry Mok said. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Advertiser
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
$1m 'caravans': luxury resorts for the rich spruiked as affordable housing
Property developers are using laws to promote affordable housing and caravan parks to build luxury over-50s resorts where homes can sell for $1.3 million - and owners are still charged site fees. GemLife, one of a growing number of land lease companies in the burgeoning $12 billion sector, owns 14 resort-style manufactured housing estates in various stages of development at prime tourism and retirement hotspots across Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria. In Tweed Heads on the NSW north coast, its 96-lot "Tweed Waters" development - complete with onsite grand ballroom, cinema, beauty salon, sauna and pool - was approved under laws designed to encourage affordable temporary accommodation and caravan parks. One of its houses was listed for sale in mid May at $1.35 million in Tweed Heads, an area with the third-largest increase in rough sleepers among NSW councils in 2024. Northern NSW, which has been ravaged by destructive floods twice in the past five years, also has the longest median wait time of anywhere in the state for government-subsidised housing - eight years. The dearest "pre-loved" house for sale on GemLife's website was $1.55 million at "Pacific Paradise" on Queensland's Sunshine Coast where laws governing manufactured homes are less focused on affordability. In land lease developments, owners buy the house structure but don't own the land beneath it and pay site fees like someone staying in a caravan park might do. In 2023 GemLife said on its website ongoing site fees were a "modest" roughly $200 a week. These charges were designed to cover land rent, security, and the upkeep of "communal facilities and gardens". Land Lease Living, the NSW industry body, describes manufactured homes on estates as "an affordable housing option". The purchase price "is generally far lower than traditional housing", it states on its website, which lists nearly 500 existing land lease "communities" along Australia's east coast from Yeppoon in Queensland to Eden on the NSW far south coast. "Land lease living gives you the opportunity to live in a modern house in a highly desirable location at a fraction of the cost of traditional house/land options," the website reads. Some land lease homes, which global real estate services firm CBRE says "could solve Australia's housing shortage" and now house about 130,000 retirees, can sell for over $2 million. Other big players in the sector include Ingenia, Lifestyle Communities, Stockland and Hometown. Manufactured homes in NSW are governed by the 2005 Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation. The regulation states: "The object of this regulation is to provide opportunities for affordable alternatives in short-term and long-term accommodation." But these rules are under review by the state government to make green-lighting caravan parks and prefabricated homes even easier as Australia grapples with an ongoing cost of living and housing affordability crisis. The consultation draft removes all reference to "affordable". Under existing laws, manufactured homes have to be substantially built offsite and then transported in sections for final assembly, but land lease developers have successfully applied for exemptions to this requirement allowing them to construct houses on site. Councils say the manufactured homes and caravan parks regulation in NSW is no longer fit for purpose and needs an "overhaul", likening estates to residential subdivisions without the same buffers, setbacks, construction standards and oversight. "In 1995 they [the estates] were actual manufactured homes (built in factories, transported to sites), which were affordable," Tweed Shire Council said in its 2023 submission to the National Housing and Homelessness Plan. "Advanced, modern, and efficient construction methods and techniques have enabled the manufactured home to resemble a standard dwelling house. "The development industry is now using the regulation to deliver manufactured homes that are, in effect, houses at costs similar to house and land packages on freehold land." The submission said these estates were now made up of slab-on-ground homes "disguised" as manufactured buildings. "The very nature of a manufactured home is that it's supposed to be manufactured off site," Tweed mayor Chris Cherry said. "The whole point of that legislation was to try and keep it affordable." Housing developers were able to keep costs down with cheaper buildings sold as luxury living within an estate, the councillor said. "They're exploiting a loophole in the affordable housing legislation that covers manufactured home estates," she said. "You can build houses to a lower standard, they don't have to have the same setbacks from roads, they don't have to have the same infrastructure or setbacks [from] their neighbors that you would have to have under a normal residential subdivision - so they're cheaper to build. "You can get more yield out of them." Manufactured home developments also attracted lower council rates and fees because the entire estate was levied at one, cheaper commercial rate even though hundreds of people may live there, she said. Tweed Shire could be collecting roughly 11 times the amount from an equivalent subdivided lot where each property owner paid rates - funds that could be used for local infrastructure and services. Cr Cherry said local pensioners and long-term residents were effectively subsidising the resorts. "It means that our local pensioners are paying for these other guys ... to do their development and to pay the ongoing cost for it," she said. Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) managing director Michael Fotheringham said the discrepancy between the intent of manufactured homes laws and how they were being used was clear. "'Luxury resort' is not the phrase that they had in mind with this legislation when they were trying to create affordable supply," he said. "There's a distinct contrast between the intent and how this is being exploited." While the sector may be making it easier for wealthy retirees to downsize, it was not helping increase affordable housing supply, Dr Fotheringham said. "Increasing profits for developers by cutting their costs and then still charging the wealthy clients a premium - it just wasn't what it's for," he said. Local Government NSW, which represents councils across the state, is calling on the government to establish a dedicated regulatory agency for caravan parks and manufactured home estates, similar to the NSW Food Authority which oversees food quality. What is now known as Tweed Waters on NSW northern border was originally given council approval for development as a 110-home manufactured home estate by Sheep Station Creek Pty Ltd in 2018. Sale records show GemLife bought the property from Mormatsal Investments for $825,000 in 2019. A spokesman for the NSW planning department said it was working with the customer service department "to progress changes to rules for manufactured homes". "The NSW government acknowledges manufactured homes play an important part in providing housing across the state and is working to improve planning pathways for this type of development," the spokesman said. It had received a large volume of submissions to its review of the regulations, he said. GemLife was contacted for comment. Do you know more? Email the journalist: Property developers are using laws to promote affordable housing and caravan parks to build luxury over-50s resorts where homes can sell for $1.3 million - and owners are still charged site fees. GemLife, one of a growing number of land lease companies in the burgeoning $12 billion sector, owns 14 resort-style manufactured housing estates in various stages of development at prime tourism and retirement hotspots across Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria. In Tweed Heads on the NSW north coast, its 96-lot "Tweed Waters" development - complete with onsite grand ballroom, cinema, beauty salon, sauna and pool - was approved under laws designed to encourage affordable temporary accommodation and caravan parks. One of its houses was listed for sale in mid May at $1.35 million in Tweed Heads, an area with the third-largest increase in rough sleepers among NSW councils in 2024. Northern NSW, which has been ravaged by destructive floods twice in the past five years, also has the longest median wait time of anywhere in the state for government-subsidised housing - eight years. The dearest "pre-loved" house for sale on GemLife's website was $1.55 million at "Pacific Paradise" on Queensland's Sunshine Coast where laws governing manufactured homes are less focused on affordability. In land lease developments, owners buy the house structure but don't own the land beneath it and pay site fees like someone staying in a caravan park might do. In 2023 GemLife said on its website ongoing site fees were a "modest" roughly $200 a week. These charges were designed to cover land rent, security, and the upkeep of "communal facilities and gardens". Land Lease Living, the NSW industry body, describes manufactured homes on estates as "an affordable housing option". The purchase price "is generally far lower than traditional housing", it states on its website, which lists nearly 500 existing land lease "communities" along Australia's east coast from Yeppoon in Queensland to Eden on the NSW far south coast. "Land lease living gives you the opportunity to live in a modern house in a highly desirable location at a fraction of the cost of traditional house/land options," the website reads. Some land lease homes, which global real estate services firm CBRE says "could solve Australia's housing shortage" and now house about 130,000 retirees, can sell for over $2 million. Other big players in the sector include Ingenia, Lifestyle Communities, Stockland and Hometown. Manufactured homes in NSW are governed by the 2005 Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation. The regulation states: "The object of this regulation is to provide opportunities for affordable alternatives in short-term and long-term accommodation." But these rules are under review by the state government to make green-lighting caravan parks and prefabricated homes even easier as Australia grapples with an ongoing cost of living and housing affordability crisis. The consultation draft removes all reference to "affordable". Under existing laws, manufactured homes have to be substantially built offsite and then transported in sections for final assembly, but land lease developers have successfully applied for exemptions to this requirement allowing them to construct houses on site. Councils say the manufactured homes and caravan parks regulation in NSW is no longer fit for purpose and needs an "overhaul", likening estates to residential subdivisions without the same buffers, setbacks, construction standards and oversight. "In 1995 they [the estates] were actual manufactured homes (built in factories, transported to sites), which were affordable," Tweed Shire Council said in its 2023 submission to the National Housing and Homelessness Plan. "Advanced, modern, and efficient construction methods and techniques have enabled the manufactured home to resemble a standard dwelling house. "The development industry is now using the regulation to deliver manufactured homes that are, in effect, houses at costs similar to house and land packages on freehold land." The submission said these estates were now made up of slab-on-ground homes "disguised" as manufactured buildings. "The very nature of a manufactured home is that it's supposed to be manufactured off site," Tweed mayor Chris Cherry said. "The whole point of that legislation was to try and keep it affordable." Housing developers were able to keep costs down with cheaper buildings sold as luxury living within an estate, the councillor said. "They're exploiting a loophole in the affordable housing legislation that covers manufactured home estates," she said. "You can build houses to a lower standard, they don't have to have the same setbacks from roads, they don't have to have the same infrastructure or setbacks [from] their neighbors that you would have to have under a normal residential subdivision - so they're cheaper to build. "You can get more yield out of them." Manufactured home developments also attracted lower council rates and fees because the entire estate was levied at one, cheaper commercial rate even though hundreds of people may live there, she said. Tweed Shire could be collecting roughly 11 times the amount from an equivalent subdivided lot where each property owner paid rates - funds that could be used for local infrastructure and services. Cr Cherry said local pensioners and long-term residents were effectively subsidising the resorts. "It means that our local pensioners are paying for these other guys ... to do their development and to pay the ongoing cost for it," she said. Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) managing director Michael Fotheringham said the discrepancy between the intent of manufactured homes laws and how they were being used was clear. "'Luxury resort' is not the phrase that they had in mind with this legislation when they were trying to create affordable supply," he said. "There's a distinct contrast between the intent and how this is being exploited." While the sector may be making it easier for wealthy retirees to downsize, it was not helping increase affordable housing supply, Dr Fotheringham said. "Increasing profits for developers by cutting their costs and then still charging the wealthy clients a premium - it just wasn't what it's for," he said. Local Government NSW, which represents councils across the state, is calling on the government to establish a dedicated regulatory agency for caravan parks and manufactured home estates, similar to the NSW Food Authority which oversees food quality. What is now known as Tweed Waters on NSW northern border was originally given council approval for development as a 110-home manufactured home estate by Sheep Station Creek Pty Ltd in 2018. Sale records show GemLife bought the property from Mormatsal Investments for $825,000 in 2019. A spokesman for the NSW planning department said it was working with the customer service department "to progress changes to rules for manufactured homes". "The NSW government acknowledges manufactured homes play an important part in providing housing across the state and is working to improve planning pathways for this type of development," the spokesman said. It had received a large volume of submissions to its review of the regulations, he said. GemLife was contacted for comment. Do you know more? Email the journalist: Property developers are using laws to promote affordable housing and caravan parks to build luxury over-50s resorts where homes can sell for $1.3 million - and owners are still charged site fees. GemLife, one of a growing number of land lease companies in the burgeoning $12 billion sector, owns 14 resort-style manufactured housing estates in various stages of development at prime tourism and retirement hotspots across Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria. In Tweed Heads on the NSW north coast, its 96-lot "Tweed Waters" development - complete with onsite grand ballroom, cinema, beauty salon, sauna and pool - was approved under laws designed to encourage affordable temporary accommodation and caravan parks. One of its houses was listed for sale in mid May at $1.35 million in Tweed Heads, an area with the third-largest increase in rough sleepers among NSW councils in 2024. Northern NSW, which has been ravaged by destructive floods twice in the past five years, also has the longest median wait time of anywhere in the state for government-subsidised housing - eight years. The dearest "pre-loved" house for sale on GemLife's website was $1.55 million at "Pacific Paradise" on Queensland's Sunshine Coast where laws governing manufactured homes are less focused on affordability. In land lease developments, owners buy the house structure but don't own the land beneath it and pay site fees like someone staying in a caravan park might do. In 2023 GemLife said on its website ongoing site fees were a "modest" roughly $200 a week. These charges were designed to cover land rent, security, and the upkeep of "communal facilities and gardens". Land Lease Living, the NSW industry body, describes manufactured homes on estates as "an affordable housing option". The purchase price "is generally far lower than traditional housing", it states on its website, which lists nearly 500 existing land lease "communities" along Australia's east coast from Yeppoon in Queensland to Eden on the NSW far south coast. "Land lease living gives you the opportunity to live in a modern house in a highly desirable location at a fraction of the cost of traditional house/land options," the website reads. Some land lease homes, which global real estate services firm CBRE says "could solve Australia's housing shortage" and now house about 130,000 retirees, can sell for over $2 million. Other big players in the sector include Ingenia, Lifestyle Communities, Stockland and Hometown. Manufactured homes in NSW are governed by the 2005 Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation. The regulation states: "The object of this regulation is to provide opportunities for affordable alternatives in short-term and long-term accommodation." But these rules are under review by the state government to make green-lighting caravan parks and prefabricated homes even easier as Australia grapples with an ongoing cost of living and housing affordability crisis. The consultation draft removes all reference to "affordable". Under existing laws, manufactured homes have to be substantially built offsite and then transported in sections for final assembly, but land lease developers have successfully applied for exemptions to this requirement allowing them to construct houses on site. Councils say the manufactured homes and caravan parks regulation in NSW is no longer fit for purpose and needs an "overhaul", likening estates to residential subdivisions without the same buffers, setbacks, construction standards and oversight. "In 1995 they [the estates] were actual manufactured homes (built in factories, transported to sites), which were affordable," Tweed Shire Council said in its 2023 submission to the National Housing and Homelessness Plan. "Advanced, modern, and efficient construction methods and techniques have enabled the manufactured home to resemble a standard dwelling house. "The development industry is now using the regulation to deliver manufactured homes that are, in effect, houses at costs similar to house and land packages on freehold land." The submission said these estates were now made up of slab-on-ground homes "disguised" as manufactured buildings. "The very nature of a manufactured home is that it's supposed to be manufactured off site," Tweed mayor Chris Cherry said. "The whole point of that legislation was to try and keep it affordable." Housing developers were able to keep costs down with cheaper buildings sold as luxury living within an estate, the councillor said. "They're exploiting a loophole in the affordable housing legislation that covers manufactured home estates," she said. "You can build houses to a lower standard, they don't have to have the same setbacks from roads, they don't have to have the same infrastructure or setbacks [from] their neighbors that you would have to have under a normal residential subdivision - so they're cheaper to build. "You can get more yield out of them." Manufactured home developments also attracted lower council rates and fees because the entire estate was levied at one, cheaper commercial rate even though hundreds of people may live there, she said. Tweed Shire could be collecting roughly 11 times the amount from an equivalent subdivided lot where each property owner paid rates - funds that could be used for local infrastructure and services. Cr Cherry said local pensioners and long-term residents were effectively subsidising the resorts. "It means that our local pensioners are paying for these other guys ... to do their development and to pay the ongoing cost for it," she said. Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) managing director Michael Fotheringham said the discrepancy between the intent of manufactured homes laws and how they were being used was clear. "'Luxury resort' is not the phrase that they had in mind with this legislation when they were trying to create affordable supply," he said. "There's a distinct contrast between the intent and how this is being exploited." While the sector may be making it easier for wealthy retirees to downsize, it was not helping increase affordable housing supply, Dr Fotheringham said. "Increasing profits for developers by cutting their costs and then still charging the wealthy clients a premium - it just wasn't what it's for," he said. Local Government NSW, which represents councils across the state, is calling on the government to establish a dedicated regulatory agency for caravan parks and manufactured home estates, similar to the NSW Food Authority which oversees food quality. What is now known as Tweed Waters on NSW northern border was originally given council approval for development as a 110-home manufactured home estate by Sheep Station Creek Pty Ltd in 2018. Sale records show GemLife bought the property from Mormatsal Investments for $825,000 in 2019. A spokesman for the NSW planning department said it was working with the customer service department "to progress changes to rules for manufactured homes". "The NSW government acknowledges manufactured homes play an important part in providing housing across the state and is working to improve planning pathways for this type of development," the spokesman said. It had received a large volume of submissions to its review of the regulations, he said. GemLife was contacted for comment. Do you know more? Email the journalist: Property developers are using laws to promote affordable housing and caravan parks to build luxury over-50s resorts where homes can sell for $1.3 million - and owners are still charged site fees. GemLife, one of a growing number of land lease companies in the burgeoning $12 billion sector, owns 14 resort-style manufactured housing estates in various stages of development at prime tourism and retirement hotspots across Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria. In Tweed Heads on the NSW north coast, its 96-lot "Tweed Waters" development - complete with onsite grand ballroom, cinema, beauty salon, sauna and pool - was approved under laws designed to encourage affordable temporary accommodation and caravan parks. One of its houses was listed for sale in mid May at $1.35 million in Tweed Heads, an area with the third-largest increase in rough sleepers among NSW councils in 2024. Northern NSW, which has been ravaged by destructive floods twice in the past five years, also has the longest median wait time of anywhere in the state for government-subsidised housing - eight years. The dearest "pre-loved" house for sale on GemLife's website was $1.55 million at "Pacific Paradise" on Queensland's Sunshine Coast where laws governing manufactured homes are less focused on affordability. In land lease developments, owners buy the house structure but don't own the land beneath it and pay site fees like someone staying in a caravan park might do. In 2023 GemLife said on its website ongoing site fees were a "modest" roughly $200 a week. These charges were designed to cover land rent, security, and the upkeep of "communal facilities and gardens". Land Lease Living, the NSW industry body, describes manufactured homes on estates as "an affordable housing option". The purchase price "is generally far lower than traditional housing", it states on its website, which lists nearly 500 existing land lease "communities" along Australia's east coast from Yeppoon in Queensland to Eden on the NSW far south coast. "Land lease living gives you the opportunity to live in a modern house in a highly desirable location at a fraction of the cost of traditional house/land options," the website reads. Some land lease homes, which global real estate services firm CBRE says "could solve Australia's housing shortage" and now house about 130,000 retirees, can sell for over $2 million. Other big players in the sector include Ingenia, Lifestyle Communities, Stockland and Hometown. Manufactured homes in NSW are governed by the 2005 Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation. The regulation states: "The object of this regulation is to provide opportunities for affordable alternatives in short-term and long-term accommodation." But these rules are under review by the state government to make green-lighting caravan parks and prefabricated homes even easier as Australia grapples with an ongoing cost of living and housing affordability crisis. The consultation draft removes all reference to "affordable". Under existing laws, manufactured homes have to be substantially built offsite and then transported in sections for final assembly, but land lease developers have successfully applied for exemptions to this requirement allowing them to construct houses on site. Councils say the manufactured homes and caravan parks regulation in NSW is no longer fit for purpose and needs an "overhaul", likening estates to residential subdivisions without the same buffers, setbacks, construction standards and oversight. "In 1995 they [the estates] were actual manufactured homes (built in factories, transported to sites), which were affordable," Tweed Shire Council said in its 2023 submission to the National Housing and Homelessness Plan. "Advanced, modern, and efficient construction methods and techniques have enabled the manufactured home to resemble a standard dwelling house. "The development industry is now using the regulation to deliver manufactured homes that are, in effect, houses at costs similar to house and land packages on freehold land." The submission said these estates were now made up of slab-on-ground homes "disguised" as manufactured buildings. "The very nature of a manufactured home is that it's supposed to be manufactured off site," Tweed mayor Chris Cherry said. "The whole point of that legislation was to try and keep it affordable." Housing developers were able to keep costs down with cheaper buildings sold as luxury living within an estate, the councillor said. "They're exploiting a loophole in the affordable housing legislation that covers manufactured home estates," she said. "You can build houses to a lower standard, they don't have to have the same setbacks from roads, they don't have to have the same infrastructure or setbacks [from] their neighbors that you would have to have under a normal residential subdivision - so they're cheaper to build. "You can get more yield out of them." Manufactured home developments also attracted lower council rates and fees because the entire estate was levied at one, cheaper commercial rate even though hundreds of people may live there, she said. Tweed Shire could be collecting roughly 11 times the amount from an equivalent subdivided lot where each property owner paid rates - funds that could be used for local infrastructure and services. Cr Cherry said local pensioners and long-term residents were effectively subsidising the resorts. "It means that our local pensioners are paying for these other guys ... to do their development and to pay the ongoing cost for it," she said. Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) managing director Michael Fotheringham said the discrepancy between the intent of manufactured homes laws and how they were being used was clear. "'Luxury resort' is not the phrase that they had in mind with this legislation when they were trying to create affordable supply," he said. "There's a distinct contrast between the intent and how this is being exploited." While the sector may be making it easier for wealthy retirees to downsize, it was not helping increase affordable housing supply, Dr Fotheringham said. "Increasing profits for developers by cutting their costs and then still charging the wealthy clients a premium - it just wasn't what it's for," he said. Local Government NSW, which represents councils across the state, is calling on the government to establish a dedicated regulatory agency for caravan parks and manufactured home estates, similar to the NSW Food Authority which oversees food quality. What is now known as Tweed Waters on NSW northern border was originally given council approval for development as a 110-home manufactured home estate by Sheep Station Creek Pty Ltd in 2018. Sale records show GemLife bought the property from Mormatsal Investments for $825,000 in 2019. A spokesman for the NSW planning department said it was working with the customer service department "to progress changes to rules for manufactured homes". "The NSW government acknowledges manufactured homes play an important part in providing housing across the state and is working to improve planning pathways for this type of development," the spokesman said. It had received a large volume of submissions to its review of the regulations, he said. GemLife was contacted for comment. Do you know more? Email the journalist:
