The house and land packages group (AVJ) shrugged off recent negative sentiment towards the residential housing market, confirming it would secure contract signings for 1800 to 2100 lots by June 2016.

“The board remains confident in continued performance and reaffirms that guidance,” managing director Peter Summers told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting today.

Chairman Simon Cheong said the level of contracts carried over into the first half of the 2016 financial year has already given business a boost.

“Whilst acknowledging a traditional bias to the second half, the forthcoming financial year is already shaping up well,” he said.

Mr Cheong said key economic drivers were positive, with strong consumer confidence bolstering the housing sector.

Low interest rates and inflation, increased population growth and persisting housing shortages in Sydney and Auckland were also driving demand, he said.

Mr Summers acknowledged there had been considerable speculation about the future of Australia’s housing market in recent months, which sparked negative sentiment in residential companies on the stock exchange.

But the Melbourne market, excluding apartments, was still well undersupplied and the company’s position was sound, he said.

And in Sydney, the significant undersupply of apartments and homes in the preceding decade had dulled the impact of an increase in production.

“We strongly believe this part of the market has a sustained period of strong market conditions ahead,” Mr Summers said.

Brisbane conditions were tipped to improve, with a shortage of housing that could be exacerbated if interstate migration numbers increased towards longer term trends.

And while Perth and Adelaide remained challenging, Mr Summers said the company’s exposure to those markets was appropriate.

And he stressed that AV Jennings had a sustainable customer base, noting less than 1 per cent of buyers were foreigners.

Mr Summers said he was confident of meeting the challenges of affordability in the future but called on all levels of government to review taxes such as the GST and stamp duty to ease the burden for buyers.

The comments come after the company in August reported an 83 per cent lift in full-year profit to $34.4 million.