GemLife expects to be ASX 300 company in March intake: Adrian Puljich

It was only last July that The Weekly SOURCE reported on the Queensland-based land lease community operator listing on the ASX.

GemLife listed on 3 July 2025 with a $1.6 billion valuation. Its market capitalisation now is $1.94 billion, a 23% increase in just under seven months.

In mid-December, GemLife purchased its 33rd site when it acquired a 32.5-hectare property in Townsville’s Mount Low, for $21 million. The operator now has a development pipeline of more than 10,400 homes and sites across Australia.

Managing Director and CEO Adrian Puljich has told the Australian Financial Review (18 January) that GemLife was fielding calls from other institutional investors.

Local fund manager Firetrail Investments and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board took significant stakes in the IPO.

“We’ve got a couple of pension funds, a couple of groups out of the US now that have joined the register, and our understanding is there are some big funds out of Asia that have now seen the performance of the group over this last six-year period, and are anticipating our full-year results before they jump in,” Adrian said.

“We anticipate to be an ASX 300 company in the March intake.”

Three operators to dominate land lease?

Adrian also looked to the future where he forecast increasing consolidation among the land lease operators.

“Over the coming decade, I see this sector, from a listed perspective, consolidating, where we may have three major operators with significant size and scale that capital will look to flock to,” he said.

“Consolidation is certainly on the cards. There is a greater understanding, within operator land, that consolidation needs to occur to enjoy scale and to get that market recognition and institutional recognition, for that matter.”

The consolidation of the land lease sector was also predicted in CBRE’s recent 2026 Seniors Living report, with larger operators expected to leverage their scale to deliver enhanced services and sustainability initiatives.

Adrian added that the market had decades of growth ahead.

“We talk about Boomers, but we also talk about the Zoomers, which are the kids of the Boomers,” he said.

“They are yet to come through. So when you look at what’s ahead of us, and the lack of land supply, the lack of housing, purpose-built housing – which is what seniors communities are – that provides a huge opportunity.”