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A Melbourne-based real estate group has managed more than $100 million in land sales off market in recent months, with the director citing experience as a major driver of their recent success.
RPM Real Estate Group said the off-market sales success demonstrates the “continued depth of the Melbourne land market post-lockdown”.
According to RPM director Christian Ranieri, off-market developer-type deals are being sought out by many landholders who are seeking to preserve their privacy, whether that be for family or business reasons.
“People want deals put together in the least stressful, most fluid way that gives them confidentiality due to the land values that are being achieved,” he said.
“In many instances, vendors, some with multi-generational decision-makers, are much more comfortable working with parties off market.”
Mr Ranieri said RPM has “been able to create the same competitive environment and show vendors that we can achieve record prices using this personalised approach”.
The director stated that the success of off-market deals comes from years of experience — and requires an understanding of the vendor’s lifestyle and motivations combined with balancing the needs of developers and their portfolios.
“It is about understanding when the right time to sell might be for a family, structuring the deal in the right way and bringing the right people to the table,” he said.
One of his agency’s recent deals saw the securing of a $58 million agreement on behalf of the Al Taqua College in Truganina. The college will retain 12 hectares of the 33.41-hectare site under contract to develop a new campus.
RPM had been dealing with the vendors since 2019 — the site was considered one of the last significant approved land holdings remaining in the Wyndham corridor.
SIG Group purchased the site, which can expect 550 residential lots to go up as well as the development of a future government school.
A second off-market deal of note saw RPM offload a 31.4-hectare site in Officer for $60 million.
An apple orchard known as Bonview Orchards, the area has been sold to a local developer “off the back of RPM’s long-term relationship with the vendor spanning back to 2017”.
Mr Ranieri noted the deals “were complex on two fronts — firstly, in structuring the deal so that the college could continue to expand, and secondly, negotiating the right terms that complemented the broader plans of the apple orchard”.
The director explained that of late, developers have been venturing further out into the fringes, with prices “cheap” relative to the traditional land corridors.
He has also observed that many of these developers are looking for long settlement terms to emerge into a stabilised market.
The most recent sales success comes after the group reported $140 million in off-market sales in the December quarter of 2020.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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