This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A DAN Murphy’s liquor outlet in Canberra has sold for $15.16 million as investors lapped up $56.3 million of commercial property in the first of three commercial property portfolio auction events this week.
Twelve out of 19 properties on offer sold for a 63% clearance rate at the Burgess Rawson event held at the Sydney Opera House, ahead of events at the Hilton Brisbane today and at Melbourne’s Crown Casino tomorrow.
Liquor assets were the clear standout, commanding the day’s biggest price tags and firmest yields.
The Dickson Dan Murphy’s in Canberra traded on a yield of 4.25%. The 1,522 sqm warehouse opened late last year with a 10-year lease plus options.
The day started off strongly with two liquor assets selling well above reserve and both to local NSW investors located within 10 kilometres of the respective assets.
The Liquorland at Woonona sold for $2,510,000 after attracting interest from 20 registered bidders, and was knocked down to an investor who only registered 10 minutes prior to the auction. The sale price represented a yield of 3.75%.
A First Choice Liquor in Maroubra then sold for $10,170,000, at 3.43% on the terms of the five-year lease, after bidding dominated by investors from nearby council areas.
According to Burgess Rawson’s Darren Beehag, this is the best yield ever achieved for a First Choice liquor property and the second-best for a large format liquor asset across Australia.
The previous First Choice Liquor record was held by a Werribee asset in Melbourne, at 4.1%, while the record for a large format liquor investment is held by a Dan Murphy’s in Melbourne’s Alphington, selling in 2014 for $7.9 million on a yield of 3.32%. However, this sale included a Dan Murphy’s corporate office upstairs, a seven-year lease, and 3% rent increases compared to 2% rent increase at Maroubra).
However, the Maroubra sale did beat two recent Burgess Rawson results – including a Dan Murphy’s at Wangaratta, Victoria, that achieved a 3.68% yield, and a Dan Murphy’s at Gladesville in New South Wales that changed hands at 3.8%.
Back-to-back medical investments sold next. Another ACT asset, in Griffith, sold with a seven-year lease plus options to Embrace Orthodontics for $5 million, at 4.83%, while a medical centre in the Blue Mountains’ Katoomba sold for $5.4 million at 5.40%, with a five-year lease plus options to 2036.
Another ACT asset, the Phillip offices of Velocity Conveyancing, achieved among the day’s tighter yields, at 4.48% on the $892,000 sale price.
Child care centres were among the assets that sold prior to auction. An Imagine Childcare & Kindergarten asset in Dubbo sold for $7.6 million at 5.64%, leased for 20 years to 2036 with an option, and the Owl & The Pussycat Preschool in Warriewood traded for $4.6 million, at 5.86%, with a lease to 2026 plus options.
