Following recent reports about speculation that Lend Lease is placing its 30 aged care facilities on the market, the company has announced a surge in profits.

Australia’s largest property developer saw a 39 per cent surge in net profit to $302.3 million in the six months to December 2012.

Chief executive Steve McCann said Lend Lease has about $21.4 billion worth of projects in the pipeline but the commercial construction sector would remain challenging. Low interest rates would, however, spur the property sector. “But it would still be some time before that happened."

Speculation has been renewed that Lend Lease is placing its 30 aged care facilities on the market. The attraction for private equity firms is the significant demand for aged care beds, making the purchase of existing, modern and compliant facilities attractive.