This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AN interstate developer has snapped up the Aston Square shopping centre site at Craigieburn in Melbourne’s north, for more than $11 million.
The site was sold by CBRE’s Mark Wizel, Justin Dowers and Kevin Tong on behalf of Western Australia-based developer Peet Limited with a precinct structure plan-approved site for a 6,700sqm shopping centre.
The sale price reflected a land rate of $350 per sqm.
“During the campaign we noticed not only known developers but also an increased number of retail property investors, who due to the lack of shopping centres available for sale on the market were turning to shopping centre development as a way of holding these assets,” Dowers said.
The sale marked the year’s first neighbourhood shopping centre development transaction, after the sale of Delacombe Town Centre late in 2015 for $20 million.
Dowers said the appetite for retail development sites was being aided by declining vacancy rates, rental growth and supermarket sales growth, with these fundamentals making retail the most attractive asset class in 2016.
Wizel said that as the yields for built neighbourhood shopping centres continue to compress, the value for retail development sites are increasing substantially, very similar to what has been experienced in the residential market over the last five years.
He added the sale of Aston Square demonstrated the ongoing keen interest that buyers both local and offshore have for retail sites.
“Asian developers are beginning to move into the retail development site space, which we witnessed in Aston Square, as a diversification strategy away from pure residential, especially developers from Mainland China and Malaysia,” Wizel concluded.
Australian Property Journal
