The RBA campaign to lift housing investment takes another blow this morning with Stockland warning again, especially about Victoria:
Stockland today updated investors on the current state of the market at its first quarter investor briefing in Townsville, highlighting in particular that there has been no improvement in the challenging Victorian residential market since the company’s AGM in October.
Unless the Victorian market improves soon, which seems unlikely, Underlying Earnings Per Security (EPS) for FY13 will be at the lower end of our previously guided range of 10-15 per cent below FY12. EPS decline will be even greater in the first half, primarily due to a large skew to the second half in the Residential business.
…Group Executive and CEO Residential Mark Hunter acknowledged recent interest rate cuts and the reintroduction of first home buyers’ grants in NSW and Queensland, but said market uncertainty and a lack of consumer confidence were continuing to present challenging market conditions, which were particularly apparent in the Victorian residential market.
Building approvals later today will be interesting.
