Here's how the listed property sector kicked off 2026
Sunday, 1 March 2026
The listed property sector has stumbled out of the blocks of the 2026 financial year, but the future is looking brighter than recent results might suggest, Forsyth Barr says.
Precinct Properties, Winton Land, Property for Industry, and Vital Healthcare Property Trust all released their results for the six months to December over the last two weeks.
Within those results, there were some surprising numbers. Precinct’s profits dropped a few million dollars while Winton’s revenue took a big dive, for example.
Rohan Koreman-Smit, a senior analyst for Forsyth Barr, says the property company results revealed a soft start to 2026, but he remains optimistic about the sector for the year ahead.
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Apart from Winton, which sells land to build homes on, or built homes rather than maintaining rental portfolios, the companies saw decent topline rental income growth (revenue from rentals), he says.
“That’s due to fixed income from leases continuing to increase each year, and there is a bit of under-renting in portfolios which provides room for growth going forward. There’s also good occupancy demand, and not much vacancy in portfolios.”
The decline in interest rates means interest expenses have decreased for the sector, and that’s helpful from an operational cost perspective, Koreman-Smit says.
“On an underlying [stripping away of one-off or extraordinary events] basis, there is good growth from the sector when you look at earnings before property valuation adjustments, but valuations remain attractive relative to history.
“The sector is still travelling below assumed asset value. It is possible to argue over whether the values are correct, but they are still below replacement costs.”
For these companies it is a pretty comfortable place to be, he says.
“And for investors, they offer good gross yields ‒ when you include the benefits of the PIE tax regime you are looking at about 8% on average, with scope for a little bit of growth. That compares favourably to term deposits which were hovering around the 4% mark.”
With Koreman-Smit’s cautiously optimistic take in mind, here’s what the listed property companies that released financial results recently reported.
Precinct Properties
Profits were down for commercial and residential developer Precinct Properties in the six months to December, but it is well positioned going forward, its chief executive says.
The company, which has developments such as Commercial Bay in the Auckland CBD under its belt, reported net profit after tax of $2.9 million, down from $9.2m over the same period the previous year.
Operating profit before expenses and tax declined to $73.7m from $76.6m, while funds from the operation of its directly held investment portfolio were $69.2m, down from $72.7m.
Its core rental portfolio performed well with occupancy of 97% and a weighted average lease term of 6.1 years across its investments.
Scott Pritchard, the company’s chief executive, says the Wellington office market is more challenging, but momentum is continuing in the Auckland market.
“New leases in the office portfolio are on average 10.3% higher than previous rents which reflects the quality of our assets and demand for well-located, amenity rich premium-grade office accommodation.”
He says they have made solid progress on the company’s capital partnering initiatives, and are now in exclusive negotiations with a potential partner in PWC Tower.
“Our $325 million equity raise was well supported by shareholders, and allowed us to maintain balanced bearing and liquidity management, and commit to our new student accommodation project at 256 Queen Street in Auckland.”
Precinct recently bought ASB North Wharf in Wynyard Quarter in a joint venture, and is making solid progress on a range of developments, including the Downtown Carpark and residential projects Pillars in Freemans Bay and Dova in Mt Eden.
Pritchard says the company is encouraged by the performance of its assets in different sectors, its strong balance sheet, and by signs the economy and the market is improving.
“We are well-positioned for the short-term, and very well-positioned for the longer term. There’s no doubt the office market is coming back, and for the first time in 10 years we think we have some tail winds coming our way.”
Winton Land
Winton reported some weak headline numbers, with a sharp 60% drop in half year revenue to $32.4m from $81.1m over the same period the previous year.
It also had a net loss after tax of $0.9m, although that was an improvement from a loss of $2m in the first half of 2025.
But the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation were a $0.8m gain, up from a loss of $0.1m.
It finished the six-month period with a pre-sale book of $239.8m, a landbank yield of about 5750 units and cash holdings of $14.5m.
Winton chief executive Chris Meehan says the results reflect the subdued economic environment and a period of lower product delivery in the company’s residential development timeline.
There are some positive signs in the operating environment, including improved borrowing conditions for consumers, increased competition among suppliers, and lower labour costs, he says.
“It remains our view that given the current economic environment and property market, we must remain cautious and constrained, and continue to conserve resources until there are clear signs of robust growth, rather than tentative signs of stabilisation.”
But Koreman-Smit says Winton’s results are not as bad as they look, as the first and second half of the year appeared to be skewed around the timing of settlements.
“They are expecting strong growth in the second half of the year, and it looks like they have draft approval for Sunfield through the fast track process. That’s a reasonably large project and a key medium term driver for them.”
Property for Industry & Vital Healthcare
Property for Industry delivered healthy half year results, with net after-tax profit of $46.9m, up from $28.7m, and revenue of $73.6m, up from $61.2m.
An increase in net rental income was the main contributor to the increase, and industrial valuations are growing, supported by realised rental growth, the industrial landlord said.
The company’s development projects are advancing well, and it increased its dividend guidance in reflection of its first half performance and positive trading conditions.
Property for Industry chief executive Simon Woodhams says the “very strong” result highlights the disciplined execution of the company’s long term strategy and the strength of its industrial portfolio.
“We enter the second half of the year focused on harnessing embedded rental growth, advancing our development pipeline and continuing to deliver sustainable, growing returns for shareholders.”
Vital Healthcare Property Trust is the only specialist NZX-listed landlord focusing on healthcare real estate in Australasia. It reported a net loss of $74m over the first half, compared with a loss of $39.29m over the same period last year.
But its net property income increased to $77.8m, from $74.3m, and the financial results were impacted by the internalisation of management.
The internalisation came with an expected net cost of $177m, but the transaction was supported by unit holders and facilitated by a $235m capital raise.
Vital Healthcare chief executive Chris Adams says the internalisation is a significant milestone, and positions the business for the future via a structure which is fully aligned with unit holders.
More broadly, the business is well positioned at a portfolio level, with new or extended leasing pushing occupancy to 99% and the weighted average lease term to 19 years, and leasing momentum continuing in the new year, he says.
“The firm focus of the business is to provide sustainable adjusted funds from operations growth, and in turn, grow distributions to unit holders over time.”