Another property sector player enters liquidation owing millions
The property developer behind several of Brisbane’s inner city landmarks has collapsed owing millions of dollars, the latest in a string of business failures in the construction sector.
Liquidator Nick Combis, of Vincents, has been tasked with winding up Property Solutions Holdings and a number of related companies after one of the group’s landmark projects on the Gold Coast failed last year, The Australian reported.
Property Solutions was founded in 1990. It was behind such successful redevelopments as Centro on James Street in Fortitude Valley and The Barracks on Petrie Terrace. However, the group has struggled in recent years, facing funding issues and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the building sector, The Australian reported.
One of Property Solutions’ companies, Nerang Street Pty Ltd, called in administrators last year. The failure of its $500 million Queen St Village project left it owing creditors, including some of Queensland’s largest builders, about $80 million.
Last month, Hutchinson Builders put the home of Property Solutions director David Blanck up for auction, activating a claim on the property it had as a financier of the Queen St project, according to The Australian.
Nerant Street Pty Ltd told the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that the main reasons for its collapse included “a change in property market valuations, inability to meet funding arrangements and prior to that the general impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
According to reports filed by Combis to ASIC, other companies in the Property Solutions Group owe more than $2.4 million to the Australian Taxation Office.
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In the reports, Combis said that Property Solutions Holdings was owed more than $12 million by other companies in the group, and in turn owed millions of dollars to related entities, The Australian reported.
Sector-wide woes
Property Solutions is only the latest player in the property sector to collapse as the industry faces a perfect storm of rising prices, labour shortages and supply chain issues.
In March, construction giant Porter Davis collapsed after the failure of a last-ditch rescue effort, leaving at least 1,700 homes unfinished across Victoria and Queensland. Earlier in the same month, PBS Building collapsed, owing about $40 million to creditors and leaving around 80 projects unfinished and Queensland-based National Construction Management went into liquidation owing about $3 million.
Last month, Victorian home builder Mahercorp went into voluntary administration, with founder Steve Maher working on a plan to save the company.
Several other building companies have also failed in recent months, with the Housing Industry Association warning that 2023 was set to be the sector’s worst year in more than a decade.
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