Summerset retirement village sales remain high
Big retirement village operator Summerset Group has posted record village sales for a first quarter, continuing the strong sales trend post-lockdown.
Summerset’s new chief executive, Scott Scoullar, said the group settled 275 occupation right sales in the quarter ending March 31, with 148 new sales and 127 resales.
The record 275 sales in a first quarter for both new sales and resales is almost twice that of the same quarter a year ago when 141 sales, comprising 70 new and 71 resales, were settled. Importantly the country went into level 4 lockdown just before the end of that March quarter in 2020.
It follows Summerset’s highest ever quarter of sales, in the December quarter last year, when 296 sales of occupation rights were settled in the quarter ending December 31, comprising 176 new sales and 120 resales. ‘‘A year on from the first Covid-19 lockdown and we are continuing to see robust sales,’’ Scoullar said.
‘‘Our waitlist is up 24 per cent on a year ago and 8 per cent on the previous quarter, so we are seeing that demand to live in our villages remaining very strong.
‘‘This is backed up by our top village new sales for the first quarter, which were in our Rototuna, Hamilton, and Casebrook, Christchurch, villages, and were 31 and 26 sales respectively.’’
Summerset is one of the country’s five big retirement village operators and one of the largest builders of villages. It has 33 villages operating and in development, and about 6200 residents.
The second quarter for 2021 was looking strong also. All villas being completed in that quarter – at Kenepuru, Wellington, and Bell Block in New Plymouth – had been pre-sold, and at Te Awa, in Napier, 22 of the 23 villas being delivered in the second quarter had been pre-sold.
There was a good pipeline of new builds, including a village in Prebbleton, Christchurch, which was granted resource consent in March. It would comprise more than 290 independent homes, as well as the full continuum of care, including serviced apartments and care rooms, plus a memory care centre for residents living with dementia.