The ASX has sunk to a five-week low at lunchtime on Friday.
The S&P/ASX200 had dropped 90.30 points or 1.12% to 7,946.20 at the time of writing. Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged, but is currently 1.70% below its 52-week high.
At this time, the bottom-performing stocks in the index are Lifestyle Communities Ltd and Sandfire Resources Ltd, down 13.85% and 4.75% respectively.
All sectors except Communications are down, with Materials and Real Estate performing worse than the index. Iron ore companies have declined by 1.9% to 2.3%, gold companies have decreased by 2.4% to 4.5%, and lithium companies have fallen by 2.7% to 2.9%.
Looking at small caps, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) has declined 1.32% to 3,022.00. For the week, it is down 1.42%.
Lifestyle issues
Lifestyle Communities has withdrawn its forward looking guidance and noting allegations made by VCAT. Despite, this managing director James Kelly was optimistic about the numbers.
“There is no doubt that interest rate rises, persistent high inflation and ongoing insolvencies in the building sector impacted consumer confidence in FY24. Despite these challenges, we achieved 376 new home sales, which is the fourth-highest result in our history.
“The FY24 result, in a challenging market, is a testament to the resilience of our model and how strongly it continues to resonate with customers. We have always preferred the DMF model because it lowers the upfront entry cost for people buying into one of our communities.
"This enables customers to release more equity to supplement their lifestyle. Capital gains made over time typically assist with paying the DMF. Customers who sold their homes in FY24 did so in an average of 63 days and made an average profit of $86k after paying the DMF.
“Recent media coverage largely focused on exit fees without considering the lower entry price that our homeowners typically pay, nor the other benefits we offer. As noted previously, we reject the allegations made in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) applications by the group of homeowners at Wollert and will defend them accordingly. Given the angst the media coverage has caused homeowners across our communities, we have written to VCAT to request an urgent case management hearing with a view to progressing things as quickly as possible.”
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