14 Aug 2013

Summerset adds new sites to landbank

6:57 am on 14 August 2013

Retirement village developer and operator Summerset Group Holdings has bought another two village sites, taking the number in its landbank to five.

Summerset said the purchases, in New Plymouth and Upper Hutt, take its landbank to six years of development potential, based on its target of building 300 retirement units a year by 2015.

The company completed 102 new units in the six months to the end of June, for which it posted a $10.8 million net profit, up from $3.9 million in the same six months last year.

Managing director Norah Barlow said Summerset has continued to bring construction management and design in-house.

This year, it will internally manage the construction on most of its sites for the first time.

"It is making an enormous difference. We get an increased development margin by doing it ourselves but secondly we get better design choices and better control, more timing control, more cost control," she said.

Summerset has a waitlist for its units and Ms Barlow said that's because it offers a desirable village option.

Ms Barlow is retiring next year after 12 years at the helm but who will stay on as a non-executive director,

Julian Cook, Summerset's chief financial officer for the past three years, will suceed her.