The concerted media focus by Fairfax/Four Corners was many months in the planning and launched in late June, with devastating effect on Aveo’s sales.
The graph above was released at last week at Aveo’s Annual General Meeting for investors. It shows the weekly deposits made across its 70+ retirement villages.
With a target of 25 per week, by mid-July Aveo deposits had dropped to zero.
The company responded rapidly, introducing new product offerings by the end of August, supported by increased marketing. The graph shows the steady recovery of sales enquiry and deposits.
Across the 19 weeks in the graph, they averaged 14 deposits. They now have a target of 30 per week to recover annual sales and state that 60% of their business will be delivered in the January to June half.
Across the sector we have heard two messages. The first is that in the first few months sales were down by 30%, and customers on waiting lists, when contacted to say a vacancy was available, were stating that they would wait and watch.
They are now moving back into ‘buy’ mode, indicating that the retirement village proposition is valid and valued in the marketplace.
