Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Stockland, Australia’s biggest housing developer, reported a full-year loss because of writedowns related to a slump in the value of property assets.

The statutory loss totaled A$1.8 billion ($1.49 billion) in the 12 months ended June 30 compared with a profit of $705 million a year earlier, it said in a regulatory statement. Underlying profit totaled A$631 million, down from A$674 million a year earlier, the Sydney-based company said.

The annual loss included A$2.3 billion of writedowns from property revaluations and impairment of inventory, goodwill and strategic assets, the company said. Stockland expects earnings per share of 28 Australian cents in 2010, it said today.

“The two key things will be residential writedowns and income from office and industrial, to see how much effective rents actually decline,” said Ben Byrne, a credit analyst at Nomura Australia Ltd. in Sydney.

Stockland’s shares fell 4 Australian cents, or 1.2 percent, to A$3.37 in Sydney. The shares have lost 12 percent this year, compared with a 17 percent gain in the S&P/ASX 200 Index.

The global financial crisis has forced property companies to write down assets and raise capital to repair balance sheets. Australia’s economy has so far outperformed most other developed nations -- expanding 0.4 percent in the first quarter -- as A$12 billion in government handouts to households boosted spending.

Share Sale

Stockland sold A$2.7 billion of shares in the 12 months to June 30, the company said in its results presentation.

“Everybody’s in the same position, it’s a question of how we dealt with those tough times,” Stockland Managing Director Matthew Quinn said today on a conference call. “Our balance sheet is very strong, dare I say bulletproof, with gearing of only 16 percent.”

Stockland’s U.K operations sunk to a A$355 million loss on impairments, according to the company’s financial statements.

Stockland entered the U.K. market in 2007 when it bought property investment and development company Halladale for A$525 million. The real estate developer will embark on an “orderly” sale of U.K. assets over the next two years to three years, the company said today.

The decision to sell the assets is based on the state of the U.K economy and a clear message from investors that they didn’t support the global expansion, Quinn said.

“It’s now time to bring it back home and concentrate on being well-established in purely the domestic market,” he said.

Australia accounted for 95 percent of Stockland’s revenue last year, with the state of Queensland accounting for the bulk of those sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“We do have the feeling that the worst is behind us,” Quinn said. “We are seeing increased activity at the coalface in our business.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McDonald in Sydney at smcdonald23@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 12, 2009 03:12 EDT