The few in Western Australia have all stalled, BCI says.

Colliers International is on-selling one of the biggest "deferred" projects in Sydney, the 311-unit project with a 100-place childcare at Lot 12, York Road in Kellyville in Sydney's north-west, "Belvedere on York", worth $124 million, because the previous developer couldn't complete the purchase against a weakening market.

Stock overhang

Selling agent Guillaume Volz said the credit tightening "correction" has been "too severe".

"It's almost a perfect storm to counter the housing market's way up. There has been a lot of regulator changes [to lending] but now they have to realise the job has been done and it's time to put some normality back into the system," he said.

"It is still possible to save the stock overhang on sites that don't have enough sales for construction with sales likely to come back after the federal election."

EY Real Estate Advisory Services' Luke Mackintosh confirmed there were an increasing number of distressed developers and projects, which could lead to a shortage of homes in two to five years.


"With fewer foreign buyers, pre-sales are much harder to achieve. A developer, who may have sold 10 apartments off the plan per month, may now only sell one per month," Mr Mackintosh said.

Other major projects which are yet to be completed in Sydney include JQZ's 88 in St Leonards in Sydney's lower north shore and Dyldam's 450-unit project at 277 Pennant Hills Road and Jenkins Road in Carlingford, which is the subject of a liquidation due to unpaid land taxes by Dyldam.

Incidentally, JQZ's project was recycled from two rounds of sales by previous owners including Dyldam, leaving JQZ the last to get the project up against a tough market.

Sydney developer Lincon's $600 million 500-unit project in Zetland in Sydney's south is also on ice, as it seeks a development partner, a common risk-spreading tactic used by developers in a downturn.

The biggest unfinished projects in Melbourne from 2014 and 2015 include delayed towers in Fishermans Bend – some with more than 1000 units – such as Little Lane Early Learning Centre's 68 Buckhurst Street in South Melbourne with 1023 units flipped by a Chinese developer; Indian developer DEC Australia's 1200-unit project at 400-430 City Road in Southbank and Salvo Property Group's project at 60-82 Johnson Street in South Melbourne.

Student accommodation

Salvo is understood to be going ahead with the project, which was on-sold by a syndicate which couldn't agree on plans. Delays in the Fishermans Bend project have been caused by changes in planning rules by the Victorian government.

Several planning changes to the approval of The Plenty Residences at 830 Plenty Road in Reservoir mean it has also not been completed. It has more than 300 units and is touted as the "largest in the suburb's history".


A more recent stalled project is Crown Resorts' $1.75 billion hotel and apartment complex opposite the casino in Melbourne, which is in limbo after failing to secure finance ahead of a key planning deadline.

On the Gold Coast, Forise's failed $1.2 billion apartment tower Spirit was recently flipped to a consortium of casino owners and developers.

Some developers are managing to salvage their projects either by converting them to commercial projects or selling them for other uses such as student accommodation.

In Melbourne, Shangyi sold approved 35-level apartment tower Wills Place to student unit operators while Mirvac acquired a site originally planned for apartments from developer Sterling Global for an office.

Poly Australia switched plans at 150-152 Bridge Road and 1-3 Allowah Terrace in Richmond to commercial due to planning problems.

Brisbane developer Morris Property Group also obtained approval for a commercial development in Spring Street as it insures against the cooling Brisbane residential market.

With Larry Schlesinger and Nick Lenaghan.