THE AUSTRALIAN arm of an American housing operator has splashed out $57 million on three new land lease communities in Australia.
The Australian subsidiary of Hometown America recently snapped up the 430-site Green Wattle Villages at Burpengary in Queensland. The deal is the single residential land lease community acquisition in Australia to date.
Hometown is also in the process of buying two NSW communities with a total of 148 sites from Ingenia in Lake Macquarie and the lakeside Chain Valley Bay.
The Sydney-based property developer now has 950 home sites under management, which includes the 578 sites at Green Wattle Villages.
The acquisitions give the operator five communities in its portfolio, after it spent more than $19 million on Newport Village and $9.4 million on Sunrise Park, a Port Stephens development with approval for 188 home sites, last year.
Hometown Australia director Kevin Tucker said his team was actively pursuing additional acquisition opportunities of existing communities and greenfield development sites. "We have a strong desire to continue to grow our portfolio," he said.
Fellow director Stuart Strong said the team was attracted to these assets because of their strong community environment and sought-after locations.
"The most recent acquisitions confirm our strategy to only own and operate long-term, permanent residential communities," Mr Strong said.
Hometown Australia Communities is a subsidiary of Hometown America, one of the top five owners and operators of residential land lease communities in the US where it owns and operates 60 communities in 10 states containing 24,000 homes.
Hometown started operating in Australia in August 2016.
