It's fair to say that ASX 300 property stock Lifestyle Communities Ltd (ASX: LIC) has not had a great year so far in 2024.

As it stood yesterday afternoon, Lifestyle Communities shares were down a painful 53% or so this year. Yep, this property stock started 2024 at $17.99 a share. But on Monday afternoon, those same shares closed at just $8.45 each.

However, investors have just received a major reprieve from that loss today. Lifestyle Communities is having an incredible session.

After shutting up shop at that $8.45 yesterday, this ASX 300 stock opened at a far better $8.63 this morning before rising as high as $9.50 soon after. That's a gain worth just over 12.4% at the time.

At present, the company has cooled off a little but remains up a healthy 8.5% at $9.17.

So what's going on here? Why has this ASX 300 stock reversed some of the severe losses that we've seen over 2024?

Why did this ASX 300 stock surge 12% today?

Well, it seems that the most likely explanation for this spike in value today is an ASX filing that Lfestule Communities released yesterday evening after the markets had closed.

This filing revealed that another ASX 300 property stock, HMC Capital Ltd (ASX: HMC), has initiated a position in Lifestyle Communities.

HMC reportedly initiated its position in Lifestyle on 31 October last week and continued buying until 1 November. The company bought 3,273,422 Lifestyle shares, representing 2.69% of its corporate voting power. These shares were purchased at a price between $8.50 and $8.62 a share.

Neither HMC nor Lifestyle has made any other comments regarding this purchase. However, it does indicate that HMC sees some significant value, or perhaps a pathway to unlock value, at Lifestyle Communities.

Unlike Lifestyle Communities, HMC Capital has a strong record of performance in recent times. HMC shares are up more than 65% in 2024 to date and up more than 117% over the past 12 months. Check it out for yourself below:

It was only late last month that we covered a capital-raising announcement from HMC, which received a rapturous reception at the time. Investors were scrambling over each other to buy shares, allowing the ASX 300 stock to raise $300 million. HMC plans to use this capital to establish two new investments focused on establishing data centres.

Given this ASX 300 share's clear pedigree in investors' minds, again, it's not too shocking to see this reaction from the markets this Tuesday. Let's see what HMC Capital's next move is.