Residential developer and homebuilder AVJennings has blamed heavy rain on Australia's east coast and delays in issuing titles to prospective buyers for a 12.7 per cent slide in profit.
Steered by managing director Peter Summers, the developer has revealed profit was down, in line with earlier guidance, to $35.7 million - a drop of $5.2 million from the previous year.
"If not for the impact of heavy rain on the east coast of Australia during March and April and delays in title issuance which postponed the settlement of around 98 contracts, the profit for FY17 would have been similar to that for the previous year," the company said.
Despite Australia experiencing one of the driest starts to winter on record, Mr Summers said the extreme heat in the first few months of the year combined with "a couple of wet months", particularly in NSW, had slowed home building activity.
"The extreme heat and extreme wet certainly had an impact," he said, but the weather effect shouldn't be "overplayed".
Projects affected included Evergreen in Spring Farm, in NSW and Hazelcroft in Doreen, in Victoria.
The company says housing demand remains high, especially in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland.
"Key economic drivers are positive, with strong consumer confidence to transact in housing supported by expectations of continuing low interest rates and inflation, positive population growth and shortages of detached and low-rise dwellings in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland," the company said.
AVJennings has been shifting the main driver of its revenue into built housing, away from selling land lots, a process that has spread its revenue over a longer period.
New projects take longer to become profitable, while increased built form requires more work and time before profit kicks in, the company said.
The average contract value of built dwellings is higher compared to land sales, but the settlement period is longer, around 15 months, more than double settlement on a land sale.
The shift to increased built form has resulted in average revenue per contract rising from $246,000 to $292,000 on the back of new projects.
Mr Summers said the company had signed contracts for 1843 land lots, slightly above the previous year's 1832, with 1509 lots settling over the year.
Despite the decline in profit, the company had recognised the "value creation" and would maintain dividends at the same level as last year, providing security holders with a distribution of 3.5 cents per share.
AVJennings' Australian projects, spread across WA, SA, Victoria, NSW and Queensland, include land sales, low-rise apartments, townhouses and freestanding homes.
The company was not the only developer impacted by inclement weather.
Diversified property giant Stockland said on Tuesday that some of its projects were impacted.
"We had a period of wet weather in both Sydney and Melbourne around the beginning of the year, which pushed those programs up by six to eight weeks. So those settlements have dropped into July and August," chief executive of residential Andrew Whitson said.
