This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SINGAPOREAN investors have splashed out more than $4 million on two older style Perth fuel stations.
A Puma station at 194 Canning Rd, on 1,674 sqm in the outer south eastern suburb of Lesmurdie sold for $2.35 million, on a yield of 7.97% with an 8.5 year lease plus options.
In the northern suburbs, the Vibe Fuels service station at 66 Syliva St, on the corner of Hillsborough Dr, traded for $1.81 million with a 15 year lease plus options, on an 8.28% yield.
Both service stations were marketed and sold by Ray White Commercial’s Brett Wilkins through private treaty campaign.
Wilkins said the “older style” service stations had been marketed by other agencies but his focus on the Singapore market paid dividends for the double sale.
“Both these sites have been fuel stations for many years and benefit from long-established residential catchments, something that appealed to the two separate buyers,” he said.
Nearly $25 million of petrol stations in Western Australia changed hands in the final quarter of 2019, bumping up the state’s full year total to $69 million as east coast buyers sought higher yields than those in their home states.
They included 7-Eleven Joondalup for $5.3 million on a yield of 6.07%, Caltex East Perth for $3.85 million on a yield of 5.00%, and Port Kennedy Caltex for $4.2 million, on a tighter yield of 4.23%.
A real estate investment trust picked up Shell Orana for $6.15 million at 5.77%, and a Puma service station in Baldivis sold for $5.2 million to a local investor at 6.35%.
The late-year rush pushed total transaction volumes for petrol stations in WA to $69 million, according to CBRE, a substantial increase from $29 million in 2018.
That was part of a nationwide rush to the sector, albeit before the coronavirus outbreak interrupted markets across the world. Across two separate auction events, 33 7-Eleven outlets offered by billionaire Russell Withers sold for a combined $156 million.
National service station sales in 2019 to early December totalled $303 million across 61 transactions, with 60% of that volume transacting in the four months since July.
As well as the initial 7-Eleven portfolio sales, Caltex sold off a first lot of 25 service stations for about $136 million late last year, before announcing intentions to float of a new trust with 250 stations. Charter Hall then agreed to take on a 49% interest in a $1.7 billion portfolio of 225 BP-branded petrol stations.
