About a dozen people camped out in their cars to be among the first in line to purchase a residential lot in a new housing area of Tarneit last week.
The potential buyers were keen to land one of 35 blocks in the first release of Villawood Properties’ Alamora estate.
The hopeful landowners had been in their vehicles outside the Sayers Road sales centre in the days before Victoria was sent into a five-day coronavirus lockdown on February 13.
Villawood fast-tracked sales to campers before the lockdown came into effect, then took deposits online after the lockdown began.
When construction is complete, the 2000-lot Alamora estate will be home to an $8 million resort-style residents’ club, parks, sports reserves, public art and the west’s largest display village.
The Alamora sales centre received more than 200 inquiries in the weeks leading up to the official sales launch.
More than 160 people attended a weekend pre-sales opening.
Villawood chief executive Alan Miller said the response was “very significant”.
Villawood executive director Tony Johnson said demand for lots in Alamora demonstrated the real estate market’s underlying strength.
“We believe the scope for innovative, quality residential growth across Melbourne, Victoria and indeed Australia, is undiminished by the current economic difficulties,” he said.
“We’re the only developer to launch five new developments during the COVID lockdowns and the market has responded more favourably than even we’d hoped.
“We’ve pushed forward with our construction works, with new stage releases across different projects, and similarly we’re pursuing new acquisitions.”
