Mark Steinert told Stockland investors in his final earnings announcement that the country's largest diversified developer would keep selling homes in a market increasingly focused on affordable dwellings and would further cut its retail property exposure to one-third of overall portfolio.

Despite eking out a pre-tax profit of just $33 million, a 91 per cent slump from a year earlier as a result of write-downs worth $496 million on its commercial property portfolio and $138 million on the company's retirement living portfolio, revenue was little changed and Stockland reported stronger-than-expected residential settlements.