Who bought Ryman’s approved retirement village site?
Ryman keeps trimming the pipeline
- Kealba sold: Retirement village site changes hands
- Cash first: Development sites being offloaded
- Reset mode: Focus shifts from growth to free cash flow
- Next up: Coburg North remains for sale
Another Australian development site has changed hands as Ryman Healthcare continues to reshape its portfolio.
In September 2023, The Weekly SOURCE reported the New Zealand-based continuum of care operator had development approval for a new $155 million retirement living complex at Kealba, 15km northwest of Melbourne’s CBD.
Ryman had paid $38.5 million for the vacant site, formerly the Kealba Secondary College, in late 2021.
The development approved by Brimbank City Council allowed for 140 independent living units, including two and three-bedroom single storey dwellings, a central four-storey residential aged care building accommodating approximately 54 assisted living apartments and 80 rooms (beds) for aged care use.
But the operator was forced to scale back on its expansion plans post-COVID, and has been seeking to raise at least NZ$200 million through sales of land from its land bank.
Cushman & Wakefield Directors, Development Sites, Hamish Burgess and Joe Kairouz have brokered an off-market sale of the Kealba site, for $30.85 million, a $7.65 million discount on what Ryman originally paid.
The buyer is an ASX-listed property developer, which is understood to be planning a traditional residential sub-division, likely with townhouses.
Ryman Healthcare, which has been undergoing a two-year business restructure helmed by CEO Naomi James, recorded its first positive free cash flow result in more than a decade in its FY26 results released last month.
Ryman has told the market that it is keeping sites “with the strongest potential for future development” but selling those which “may deliver greater value for shareholders through divestment”. The operator is retaining five sites in Melbourne.
Cushman & Wakefield is also marketing the Coburg North site earmarked for what was expected to be Ryman’s largest-ever retirement village.
The Kealba disposal follows several other Victorian site sales by the operator in recent years.
In December last year, Ryman offloaded the long-planned village at Mt Eliza’s Moondah Estate on the Mornington Peninsula, recording a $2.5 million loss on the sale.
In April 2025, Ryman received $9.1 million when it sold 9,065sqm of land meant to expand Dame Nellie Melba retirement village. The operator had previously paid $47.5 million to buy the site of the former Brandon Park Secondary College in Melbourne's eastern suburbs in May 2014.
The operator also took a hit on the former Coburg High School site, selling the land for $21.8 million in 2024 after purchasing it for $25.5 million seven years earlier.
