Australia’s biggest home builder gets itself ... a bigger home

November 13, 2026 — 5:00amCapital GainMetricon, Australia’s biggest home builder, is moving house, shifting its head office to CareSuper’s Ferntree Business Park in Notting Hill.It’s a big move for the construction company which has been a mainstay of Fife Capital’s Gateway Business Park in Mount Waverley for about 25 years.Metricon has been Australia’s biggest home builder for 10 years, according to Housing Industry of Australia data, and is likely to be even more dominant since Japanese-owned builder Sumitomo Forestry took a 51 per cent stake last year.Metricon’s new digs at the Ferntree Business Park, Notting Hill.The Sumitomo group also includes Henley Homes, the Scott Park Group and Wisdom Homes and built 8038 houses in 2025-26.Metricon has naming rights to the building which is now 95 per cent leased and includes other major corporate tenants, Schneider Electric, Dahlsen Building Centres and Fujitsu.The 8200-square-metre deal was done by Colliers’ Victorian boss Rob Joyes and Ash Dean and marks a return to health for the metropolitan office market.Colliers data show the number of metro leases done during 2026 increased 30 per cent to 154,000 sq m this year with some notable uplift in the size of deals.“We’re seeing a clear shift in demand from businesses wanting to be closer to lifestyle precincts, with better amenities and more sustainable buildings. This is one of the largest metropolitan deals this year and a sign of what’s to come,” Joyes said.“We’re also seeing a wave of relocations from residential home builders across the outer east,” Dean said.“Thomas Archer Homes recently committed to 1200 sq m at 37 Dunlop Road in Salta’s Nexus business park and Carter Grange is leasing 1452sqm at 315 Ferntree Gully Road.”Next month, Kmart is relocating its 18,000 sq m headquarters to One Middle Road at Chadstone Shopping Centre where Adairs has also committed to 3630 sq m, joining other national retailers Officeworks, Bodyshop, Shaver Shop, and The Cotton On Group.Development sitesTwo South Melbourne development sites - one owned by embattled Indian-Australian investor Rupinder Brar and the other, by James Zhang’s Australian Property Holdings - are up for sale under instructions from their mortgagees.Records show Brar paid $19.9 million for the car park at 200-204 Wells Street in 2020 after an earlier sale to collapsed developer Steller for $23.4 million failed to complete.Wells Street Development, the company Brar used to buy the carpark, was put into receivership with KordaMentha last month.The site, which sits amid a forest of new residential towers, has a permit for a 17-level building designed by Bates Smart.200 Wells Street is back on the market.Colliers agents Jozef Dickinson and Philip Heberling have the listing but declined to be drawn on the likely price.The recent sale of 175 Sturt Street, up the road in Southbank, provides some guidance. Records show Ash Williams’ Evolve Group paid $16 million in June for the 2070 sq m site. That’s about $7729 per sq m, making Wells Street’s 1538 sq m worth around $11.88 million.Mortgagee auctionMeanwhile, it turns out there’s yet more property in the Australian Property Holdings portfolio. A 620 sq m site at 61-65 Palmerston Crescent, South Melbourne will be sold via a mortgagee auction on December 9.The Chinese-capital backed development group collapsed late in 2024 after spending around $500 million on buildings and sites across the eastern suburbs and the CBD over a 10-year period.Rising interest rates and construction prices put an end to the group’s $1 billion development slate.The cleared site at 65-69 Palmerston Crescent, South Melbourne, is going to auction.The South Melbourne site comes with an existing planning permit for a 10-level office designed by Clarke Hopkins Clarke or a fresh design by Cera Stribley for a 10-level apartment development - which would require planning approval.Records show APH’s Xin Hai City (65 Palmerston) paid $6.78 million in 2018. Its two mortgages are held by the Pallas Group.The site is next door to a 69-room hotel at 51-59 Palmerston Crescent, which APH also owned and was one of the first properties the group tried to off-load mid-2024.Records show it settled in January for $15.8 million to a Macau-based investor, Dehou Capital. It had been for sale at around $24 million.Cushman & Wakefield’s Daniel Wolman, Oliver Hay, Hamish Burgess and Leon Ma are running the campaign. The development site is expected to fetch between $4-5 million.Dolls hospitalThe corner shop in Malvern which housed the Dolls Hospital for the past 35 years has sold to an investor for $1.9 million.The hospital closed during the year after 144 years dedicated to mending and repairing broken dolls. It moved to Malvern in the 1990s but was a fixture in the Royal Arcade from the 1880s until 1975.The shop at 25 Claremont Avenue, near Malvern Station, was originally up for lease after the hospital closed, but the campaign was converted to a sale.25 Claremont Avenue, MalvernDBRE Property’s Andrew McLaren and James Davie handled negotiations.“There was a lot of interest from both potential tenants and buyers,” McLaren said.Records show it last changed hands in 1973 for $37,500. It’s likely to get a refurbishment before it’s up for lease again.Design follows artIn a sign of the times, architectural lighting specialist Sphera is moving out of Richmond to the northern suburb of Preston.First the artists and art galleries moved to Preston. Now, the design industries are following.The suburb’s industrial pocket is starting to gentrify in the way Cremorne and Collingwood did 10 years ago, with design, lighting, furniture and creative businesses taking space alongside more traditional industrial occupiers.Sphera, which supplies lighting to architects, designers and engineers across the construction sector, has taken a lease on 853 sq m of space at 17-21 Raglan Street, paying around $158,000 a year.Sphera is shifting from 2 Bromham Place, Richmond, in a deal struck by GrayJohson’s Rory Whitte.“We’re seeing more and more design-focused groups coming into Preston from the inner city,” White said.“Sphera follows Moth Design at 2 Albert Street. Ten years ago these businesses were in Richmond, Collingwood and Cremorne. They’ve been priced out, and Preston has the new stock, the floor plates and the access they need,” White said.With the flat property market, however, some owner-occupiers are taking the opportunity to buy their own buildings in Richmond.A builder snapped up a vacant 314 sq m building at 10-14 Yarra Street at a recent auction, paying $1.88 million - $188,000 over the reserve.“The purchaser is considering subdivision of the property, with a view to part-occupation and leasing the balance,” said Fitzroys’ Mark Talbot, who handled the auction with Shane Mills.The pair also sold 11 Prince Patrick Street to a mortgage broker for $1.4 million. All the under-bidders were owner-occupiers.The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.More:Commercial real estateFor subscribersOfficeRetail propertyFrom our partners