Hundreds of Porter Davis homes to be completed after deal struck

Liquidators for the collapsed home building giant Porter Davis have confirmed that up to 375 homes will be built after they inked an agreement to sell the company’s multiple dwelling business to Nostra Property Group (NPG).

Under the deal, up to 126 townhouses at different stages of construction will be completed by NPG, while the agreement also gives the property group the ability to commence construction for up to 169 additional townhouses which were pre-sold off the plan.

Separately, NPG will support a further 80 Porter Davis customers whose homes are yet to be commenced.

Grant Thornton liquidator Said Jahani said the agreement would also offer ongoing employment to some Porter Davis employees, saying it would “see a number of jobs preserved.”

In the announcement on Monday, the liquidators said at least 16 Porter Davis team members would be offered positions with NPG and that the company would also immediately recruit new roles.

The agreement comes after the country’s 12th largest home builder, Porter Davis, collapsed in March, leaving 1700 unfinished homes across Victoria and Queensland when it was unable to find a last-minute buyer or financial backer to cover a funding shortfall estimated at up to $20 million.

A further 779 customers, who had signed a contract and paid a deposit were also affected, while 410 staff were made redundant after liquidators were appointed the same day. Those liquidators warned in April that some new customers could lose thousands of dollars from deposits because they were not insured.

Porter Davis was one of two companies that entered administration on the same day, as it struggled under the weight of fixed price contracts. It joined a growing list of major builders suffering from rising cost of products and labour, as well as less funding appetite from banks and investors and a slowing market.