Arvida Group, another retirement village operator, reports strong sales post-lockdown.

Thursday, 28 January 2021

Arvida Group chief executive Bill McDonald said a lot of post-lockdown enquiries were turning into sales of retirement units and apartments.

Arvida Group is the latest retirement village operator to report rising sales.

One of the largest operators in the country, Arvida said sales for the third quarter of the 2021 financial year (October to December) were 29 per cent higher than the second quarter and 17 per cent ahead of the same quarter a year ago.

Rival operators Summerset Group and Oceania Healthcare have recently reported strong sales and interest from older people wanting to shift into retirement villages post-lockdown.

Oceania reported a 44 per cent increase in sales for its first six months to the end of November 2020 and Summerset reported record quarterly sales in the last quarter of 2020.

* Half-year profit down for retirement village operator Arvida, but unit values rising

* Booming property market for retirement village operator Summerset

Arvida has a substantial building programme and says it is on track to deliver 247 units and beds in the year to March 31, 2021.

* Less property in Auckland proves a bonus for aged care operator Arvida

Arvida said it had settled 130 sales of occupation rights during the third quarter ending December 31, 2020, comprising 45 new sales and 85 resales.

The resales in the quarter comprised 36 villas and 49 serviced apartments.

Chief executive Bill McDonald said it was pleasing to see strong sales enquiry since the end of lockdown turning into settlements.

“We have started the fourth quarter with continued momentum and a strong pipeline of sales for Q4,” he said.

Like its competitors Arvida has a substantial building programme and said it was on track with its target completion of 247 units/beds in 2021 financial year ending on March 31.

This includes the delivery in the fourth quarter of the new Copper Crest care suite centre in Tauranga with 29 apartments and 55 care suites and the new care and apartments wing at St Albans in Christchurch.

Occupancy in Arvida’s care centres returned to 95 per cent in the third quarter, in line with previous years and reflecting “a return to a normalised operating environment”.

Arvida owns and operates 33 retirement villages which are home to about 4750 residents and provides a range of accommodation and care from independent living to full rest home, hospital and dementia care.

Arvida also announced it was offering seven-year retail bonds of up to $125 million to investors.

Several companies last year raised capital through offering retail bonds through which they swap bank debt for debt to investors.

Among them were other retirement village operators. Ryman Healthcare raised $150m, Summerset, $150m and Oceania $125m through issuing retail bonds.