This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PRIVATE investors have snapped up $28 million worth of Queensland childcare centre assets across four off-market deals, with active fund manager Clarence Property the vendor of two of the centres.
Headlining the results was the $9,836,666 sale of a newly-built facility at 140 Dorville Road, Carseldine, 15 kilometres north from the Brisbane CBD, on a yield of 5.18%.
Journey Early Learning has a 15-year lease with options over the 120-place centre, which is positioned on a 2,756 sqm landholding.
Each of the assets were sold by Stonebridge agents Tom Moreland and Michael Collins.
Clarence Property netted more than $11.2 million from the sales of assets in Toowoomba and Brisbane.
The Toowoomba facility, occupied by Story House Learning on a 20-year deal, sold for $5,850,000, reflecting a 5.61% yield. The 1,538 sqm property is positioned in the leafy suburb of Rangeville and sits directly opposite a local primary school.
The second asset is a new Guardian-leased facility at Bellbowrie, located 17 kilometres south-west from the CBD on a 2,014 sqm site at 117 Kangaroo Gully Road, The centre sold prior to the tenant commencing trade, for $5,400,000 at a yield of 5.44%.
Guardian has a new 15-year lease and will pay $294,000 a year in rent for the 83-place facility.
Rounding out the deals was the $7.24 million sale of a Harmony Early Learning development, back in the northern suburbs, in Griffin. The property traded at a yield of 5.56% and is due to open in October. Harmony has signed a new 20-year lease and will pay $402,550 per year for the 83-place facility, which is set across a 2,157 sqm site.
“Investor confidence in the childcare sector and demand for quality assets remains high. Buyers continue to seek the secure and passive fundamentals of long term lease security, income growth and extremely strong levels of tax depreciation available when purchasing newly-built childcare centres,” Moreland said.
He added there is “investor recognition of built-form” in the current environment given the ongoing challenges faced in the development and construction sectors, constraining supply of new offerings to market, especially in metropolitan locations.
Stonebridge expects ongoing resilience across the national childcare market, which is underpinned by bi-partisan federal government subsidies, totalling over $10 billion annually, coupled with the strong underlying business performance of operators.
Stonebridge’s August national portfolio includes seven childcare offerings across the metropolitan locations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
