Home and caravans site swoop by group
ONE of the newer players in the property-fund game has taken a big-dollar shine to the home and van parks business near the Tweed River at Chinderah.
The Lincoln Place group, whose joint chiefs include former Mirvac CEO Nicholas Collishaw, has spent more than $18m on adjoining parks.
Their sale represents a windfall for seller the Alceon group, which bought the parks, Chinderah Lakes and Tweed Shores, little more than a year ago.
It has pocketed a gross profit of around $10m.
The Lincoln Place swoop gives it control of 225 sites for homes and caravans.
The buys come as funds and listed companies have, in a big way, “discovered” home and van parks as sources of ongoing income and capital-gain growth.
One observer says there’s “crazy” demands for such properties and much of it from so-called big-hitters.
One agent in the business says he can sit around boardroom tables five times a week talking turkey with potential buyers over various properties.
The Chinderah Lake and Tweed Shores parks are both land-lease properties – the owners buy the houses but don’t own the land they sit on.
Instead, they pay rent for their sites, with annual increases. The homes can be bought and sold like any normal property.
They’re seen as a cheap alternative for downsizers and retirees to get a roof over their heads, often for less than
THE BUYS COME AS FUNDS AND LISTED COMPANIES HAVE, IN A BIG WAY, ‘DISCOVERED’ HOME AND VAN PARKS AS SOURCES OF ONGOING INCOME AND CAPITAL-GAIN GROWTH.
$100,000. They don’t pay stamp duty and rates and keep capital gains when they sell.
Another potential plus is some owners can get government assistance, which helps reduce the cost of the land lease.
New Chinderah owner Lincoln Place was set up at the end of 2019 and describes itself as a boutique funds management entity focused on affordable retirement accommodation.
It has assembled a portfolio of properties stretching from Sandstone Point on Bribie Island to Portland in Victoria.
The Chinderah buys are its first in northern NSW or the Gold Coast.
The company sees the Chinderah parks as “mature” ones that can be modernised without losing the ability to provide affordable housing.
Seller Alceon is a Sydneybased funding and investment firm that has a Queensland office headed by Todd Pepper.
It appears to have hit the mark with a three-stage office project at Robina, Acuity Business Park.
The first building, with home-builder Metricon as its major, and naming rights, tenant has sold to a company owned by Brisbane’s Raptis seafood family for $41.29 million.
Two other buildings are underway and are understood to have enjoyed strong leasing rates.
Earlier this year Alceon teamed up with Sydney’s Sammut group to buy and bowl the Garfield, which was the first beachfront tower in Surfers Paradise.
Alceon is a funding partner for a 35-level tower, Coast, in which apartments have been hot sellers.
Meanwhile, the Sydneybased agent who sold the Chinderah parks to Lincoln Place is no stranger to the Gold Coast.
Andrew Jackson, accommodation direction of the HTL group, was based in the then Bundall office of CBRE from 2007 to 2009.