One land lease community – two sales a day

Two sales a day in Pimpama. Impressive. 

Last week, we revisited GemLife Gold Coast. Two years ago, it was a building site. Today, it has 150 homes, built, occupied and selling two additional new homes a day. Yes, two a day. 

This was the sales velocity for the release of Stage 3 of this land lease community. 

Retirement villages have a lot to learn from this sales and cash flow model. 

The Retirement Village Act in each state dictates a limiting deposit process, but why should it? Can clever people overcome these limitations when demand exceeds supply? 

Unique buy-in model

For GemLife, the demand is so high buyers have to commit much earlier in the process. They secure a homesite, construction begins, and progress payments follow as the home is built. 

The moment they commit, they need to start selling the family home to meet the progress payments. 

Here is the thing. They are also, effectively, homeless until their new home is completed. 

Think about that for a moment. GemLife tell us the committed buyer then takes an overseas trip to fill in time, or maybe couch surfs with kids. 

That requires an extraordinary level of trust: in the product; the operator; and the people guiding them through the process. 

During our visit, the sophistication of that process became clear. Buyers are invited to community events. They are encouraged to start building relationships with future neighbours. Construction updates are provided every two weeks. The objective is simple: keep buyers informed, engaged and excited throughout the nine to 12-month journey from deposit to settlement. 

The commercial implications are significant. Banks like it. 

Increasingly, customers do too. 

Last year, our digital magazine SATURDAY unpacked the $22.9 million Pimpama Country Club which is at the centre of this community.  

The offering rivals five-star resorts: a rooftop pool with sunken lounges and fire pits, an indoor lap pool, bowls green, 10-pin bowling alley, golf simulator, cinema, stage and dance floor, plus a library, bar and hairdressing salon. 

How it all comes together demonstrates the maturity of the operating model behind it. The clubhouse not only improved sales velocity but pushed home prices to new highs, with average development profit margins now sitting at $355,000 per home delivered. 

The land lease sector has spent years shaking off outdated perceptions associated with caravan parks and manufactured home estates. 

Those perceptions are now well and truly gone. 

Selling two homes a day isn't evidence of a hot market. 

It's evidence of a sophisticated customer journey, a highly refined development model, and an industry that has become remarkably good at building trust long before it delivers the keys.