A decade on, 138-home Melbourne development may finally go ahead

An “exceptionally rare” parcel of land in the city’s east is once again on the market, years after it was first sold to a developer with plans for a housing estate.

The plot, located at 29 Norvel Road on the site of the old Norvel Road quarry in Ferntree Gully, fetched roughly $40 million when it was sold to China-based Hong Se International in November 2016. The firm quickly signalled its intention its plan to construct new housing on the plot.

Now, a campaign being handled by Cushman & Wakefield is expecting offers in the range of $60 million for the 7.55-hectare site that comes with approval for 138 residential lots. The campaign runs through December, so a sale may not be finalised until 2026 – a full decade after it last changed hands.

Joe Kairouz of Cushman & Wakefield, who has been appointed to sell the site alongside Hamish Burgess and Leon Ma, said the team had been receiving “solid interest from a mix of established residential developers, fund-backed groups, and local syndicates who recognise the scarcity of well-located residential land of this scale in Melbourne’s east”. 

“The buyer profile is skewing toward groups focused on delivering a master-planned, large-scale subdivision – either through lot sales or house-and-land packages – to bring new housing diversity to the area”. 

Ferntree Gully, at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, lies 30km to Melbourne’s east, with the suburb covered largely by established housing. It’s serviced by the Ferntree Gully train station. Baronia station and shops are also nearby – just 1.6 km from the parcel.

The site, which lies in the north of the suburb, was an active quarry for clay from 1955 until it was closed roughly 15 years ago. It has since been fully remediated.  

The north end of the property runs up against Blind Creek and a section of preserved bushland, offering access to the Blind Creek trail that’s a popular walking destination for locals.  

Described by Cushman & Wakefield as “the most significant residential infill development opportunity of 2025″ Mr Burgess noted the listing represented “an exceptionally rare landholding of this scale”. 

According to PropTrack data, the median house price in Ferntree Gully currently sits at $908,500, up from $744,000 in 2019.  

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