Metro Property Development is looking to take over some unfinished operations of Bob Day's collapsed Home Australia building business.
Luke Hartman, the chief executive of Queensland-based Metro, on Wednesday said his company was looking at completing the 48 unfinished houses of the Homestead Homes business in the former senator's home state, but declined to go into details.
"We are considering options in SA," Mr Hartman told The Australian Financial Review. "We're comfortable with the business in SA. The product suits us."
The Advertiser cited Metro's South Australian general manager Steve Weightman as saying the company had already started to sign contracts to take over unfinished jobs.
If Metro is looking to buy business in SA, it could find itself in competition with fellow Queensland builder, Impact Homes. The Financial Review's Street Talk column reported last month that Impact Homes, the Sunshine State's second-largest builder, was running a ruler over unspecified parts of the business. Impact chief executive Robert Harder was travelling and could not immediately be contacted on Wednesday.
Despite growth in its largest market of Victoria last year – where Metro increased its housing starts to 328 from 306, according to the HIA/Colorbond Housing 100 report – it went backwards in SA, where its total dropped to 170 homes from 255 a year earlier. While not shooting the lights out, the SA housing construction market appears to be holding its ground and offers an opportunity for Metro.
Housing approvals numbers on Wednesday showed SA approved 686 new detached homes in September, in line with the monthly average 684 for the previous 12 months.
Liquidators McGrath Nicol declined to comment ahead of creditors meetings it will hold for the first time in Sydney and Melbourne on Thursday. Creditors owed an estimated $37 million, however, are likely to hear that there will be no white knight buyer for the failed company and sufficient funds are unlikely to be realised to repay the $18.2 million owed to secured creditors – principally National Australia Bank – let alone the $19.6 million in debts to unsecured creditors.
McGrath Nicol figures show unsecured creditors of the company's Huxley Homes business are owed $3.3 million and those of its Victorian Ashford Homes business were owed $2.3 million. Creditors in SA are owed $5.5 million.
Meetings for creditors of Homestead Homes in SA and the Queensland Newstart Homes business will be held on Friday.
