* Office, industrial earnings jump
* Statutory profit A$648 mln vs A$465 mln a year earlier
* Shares hit 10-yr high (Adds market reaction, analyst and management quotes, background)
SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Australian property developer Mirvac Group MGR.AX defied some of the steepest real-estate price falls in a generation to post an almost 40 percent rise in half-year profit on Thursday, thanks to strong earnings from office and industrial divisions.
Mirvac shares hit a 10-year high after it said statutory profit for the six months to Dec. 31 rose to A$648 million ($461 million) from A$465 million a year earlier, and adjusted its full-year earnings-per-share outlook slightly higher.
The result illustrates the strength of the company's diversified model and its sound office and retail portfolios, said Winston Sammut, head of listed securities at landlord and property manager Charter Hall Group.
"Those businesses are helping Mirvac get through this generally difficult period ... from an overall perspective it's a good result," he said.
Mirvac shares rose 3.3 percent to their highest since October 2008 in early trade, while the broader market .AXJO rose 1.1 percent.
Australia's housing downturn is already the largest in a decade and is reverberating through the country's economy. of apartment oversupply have pushed building approvals to a five-year low and driven earnings downgrades at building suppliers Boral Ltd BLD.AX and James Hardie Industries JHC.AX , and builder AV Jennings Ltd AVJ.AX . said it was still able to make profitable sales despite the slide because its properties were well-located and its default rate was less than 2 percent.
At the same time office vacancy rates in Melbourne and Sydney have hit 30-year lows, driving rents higher and helping Mirvac to more than double total office and industrial revenue to A$959 million in the half-year.
Operating earnings from office and industrial properties rose 40 percent to A$265 million, compared to A$58 million in residential earnings.
"With over 95 percent of our office assets either prime or A-grade, and an 84 percent overweight to the Sydney and Melbourne CBD markets, our office portfolio is ideally placed to take advantage of the favourable office market conditions," Mirvac CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said in a statement.
Total operating profit, which excludes one-off costs, rose 26 percent to A$290 million.
The company announced an interim payout of 5.3 Australian cents per stapled security, compared with 5.0 cents per stapled security a year ago.