At a Property Council of Australia seminar about the transformation of Lake Macquarie on Friday, Green Capital Group director Darren Van Aardt said the first residential 138 lots of the Cockle Creek precinct at Boolaroo were all sold.

"We actually sold them before we put the ad in the newspaper," he said.

"We haven't gone to the market yet at all, this is through a data base. People go on our website, log on to a data base. They get a few weeks notice before we put it on the site and we don't even need to go off site."

Mr Van Aardt said while he didn't have the total number of lots as designs are ongoing, he believed it to be about 546. He said work was about to start on the second stage.

Costco vice president of operations Robert Leiss said he was pleased the development was going ahead near the store. He said staff transferring to the area had struggled to find places to live.

"There's not a lot on the market," he said. "It's been tough."

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