Metro To Build 70 Homes In Woodcroft

Metro Homes will build 70 new homes on a slice of the Thaxted Park Golf Course following a rezoning of close to 4ha of land.

The state government’s recent approval of the code amendment covers a 3.92ha area in the southwestern corner of the course.

Funds raised from the sale of the land will go towards paying off the golf club’s debt, modifying the course and reinvesting in other areas to secure the financial position of the club.

Metro will start marketing the $55m project in the second half of this year, before construction kicks off in the middle of next year.

Metro has established itself as one of the state’s largest home builders in recent years, with current projects including the $250m Minters Fields development at Mount Barker, comprising 465 new homes, and the $220m Nuova Vita project at Angle Vale where 370 homes are being built.

The company is on track for more than 300 home builds this financial year.

As part of a recent shake-up of the company’s leadership team, former acquisition and development manager Chris Buttignol was appointed general manager, while director and major shareholder Steve Weightman has stepped into a new strategic leadership role.

Mr Weightman said Metro had grown to a workforce of 55 staff in Adelaide, and it was the right time to freshen up the management structure.

“After nine years with the business I decided Chris would be the most suitable person to step into the role of general manager given the size of the business,” he said.

“This decision allows me to still work full-time and take on specific tasks to improve or grow our business even further.”

Mr Weightman said Metro was in the midst of a “fairly aggressive” build of new display homes, while it was also looking for opportunities to acquire more land, including development sites appropriate for rezoning.

“We operate in a fairly wide lane in that we stretch across more buyer segments than anyone in the top 10 (largest home builders),” he said.

“We have done this since inception – it was always part of my broader strategy. We tend to do well at affordable custom designs as well as the more aspirational offerings buyers are looking for.

“To complement that we intend to secure more sites to develop our own land. There will also be an ongoing focus for some townhouse developments within 12km of CBD.”

South Australia’s largest builders have so far survived the fallout from industry-wide labour and materials shortages, which have forced a string of major players on the east coast to down tools and close their doors.

Major interstate builders including Porter Davis Homes and Mahercorp are among the latest high profile casualties of the construction industry crisis, in which builders locked into fixed-price contracts have been left exposed by the soaring cost of labour and materials.

Mr Weightman said that while materials shortages had eased over the past 12 months, labour was still in high demand and the string of consecutive interest rates rises had softened customer demand across the industry.

“The HomeBuilder grant has proven to be a poisoned chalice,” he said.

“Every government around the world stimulated its economy through grants and incentives into the construction sector during the Covid pandemic – unfortunately the stimulus came at a time when production was getting shut down or stalled within the supply chain of building materials.

“Quite frankly I am amazed it (construction insolvencies) has not happened in SA yet at the same scale as interstate – after all it’s the same basic inputs and fundamentals.”

However in the longer term, Mr Weightman believes the fundamentals for the housing industry in SA remain strong.

“Although interest rates have risen sharply we still are seeing an economy in SA with full employment and extremely low vacancy rates with rental properties,” he said.

“Those fundamentals still point to a demand for new homes to be built. If you then add to that net migration into SA being forecast as strong, we will then have a shortage of stock.”

Written by Giuseppe Tauriello

May 1, 2023

The Australian Business Network