According to property owner and developer Mirvac, there are some signs of strength in the NSW housing market but a recovery in Queensland is still some time away.

Over at Stockland Retirement Living, David Pitman (pictured) paints a similar story as he forecasts a drop in the value of development sites set aside for retirement villages.

He says a consolidation in an industry plagued by overvalued development ‘pipelines’ is expected where many projects have been mothballed.

While Stockland is eager to grow in the market, Pitman said sellers of retirement villages were asking too much.

“A lot of portfolios have changed hands at prices which were just too high,” he said.

This uncertainty is in stark contrast to the experience of New Zealand’s Ryman Healthcare who reported a jump in profits to the six months ending September 30.

"We've invested heavily in new aged care and retirement communities over the past 18 months, and we are seeing some reward for that commitment," said chair David Kerr.

Pittman believes that the very big and very small retirement village operators are in a sound position domestically It is those in the middle who find themselves in what he calls the ‘valley of no return’.

“It takes a long time to get out of that valley,” he said.

A position that does the retirement village sector no favours as a whole.