Stockland expects slow recovery as housing market bottoms out Stockland's Andrew Whitson. PROPERTY developer Stockland says Victoria's struggling housing market is likely to have bottomed out, but any upswing in the coming year will be limited. The nation's largest residential developer has reported a sharp fall in profit with weak demand for new house-and-land packages in Victoria and Queensland weighing on the bottom line. Victoria was the worst performing residential market, with lot settlements down 44 per cent, compared with an Australia-wide decline of 14 per cent. Stockland's net profit plunged to $104.6 million for the year to June - down almost 80 per cent on the previous year. The result included $355 million in impairments that were previously announced, relating to residential property projects in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. Underlying profit, which strips out one-off costs, was down 27 per cent at $498.8 million. Stockland residential head Andrew Whitson said the worst appeared to be over for the new home market in Victoria, but investors should not expect a dramatic recovery. "Victoria pleasingly appears to have come through the trough," Mr Whitson said. But we expect that upswing to be conditioned by strong competition and also a transition in that economy away from its traditional reliance on manufacturing. Profit at the developer's residential division fell from $198 million to $60 million over the year, while profit at its commercial division was 5 per cent lower at $482 million. The company also announced it was selling its near 15 per cent stake in retirement living group FKP Property in a move which should raise $70 million. The company declared a final dividend of 12c, taking total dividends for the year to 24c. The final dividend will be paid on August 31. Stockland shares fell 2.9 per cent yesterday to $3.70.