Qualitas CEO Andrew Schwartz said “shrewd developers” were buying up sites to prepare for a next wave of apartment demand as the real estate financier, which has about 60 per cent of its business weighted to the residential sector, re-affirmed its full-year guidance as part of its inaugural interim results.

Mr Schwartz, who retained a 22.7 per cent stake in Qualitas following its $735 million IPO in December, said there were many indicators that the “dawn” of a new development cycle had already begun including apartment stock levels “running low”, inner-city vacancy rates dropping to pre-COVID levels and rents starting to rise.