This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
WOOLWORTHS has sold off a brand new supermarket, with the near-$28 million sale price of the suburban Melbourne centre coming in at a tight 3.95% yield, furthering the momentum of convenience-oriented retail asset transactions.
A Victorian-based private investor made the purchase of Woolworths Greenvale Lakes in Roxburgh Park asset through Stonebridge Property Group. Broad interest came from private investors around Australia, while listed and unlisted funds also enquired.
Completed in 2020, the 3,384 sqm centre is secured by a brand new 10-year lease to a Woolworths and BWS, complemented by a Terry White Chemmart and a café, with 185 car parking spaces with shade sails on 1.427 hectares of land.
The centre features a pick up hub, electronic vehicle charging, and has applied for a 5 Star Green Star rating.
Stonebridge Property Group’s Justin Dowers, Kevin Tong and Philip Gartland managed the expressions of interest campaign.
There were no full line supermarket transactions in metro Melbourne in 2020 as little stock came to the market during the pandemic-ravaged year.
Greenvale Lakes was offered as Stonebridge sold the Woolworths Torquay for $25,100,000, representing a 3.65% yield, while more recently the agency sold freestanding supermarket Coles Woodend, north west of Melbourne for $33.3 million on a 4.31% yield, and in conjunction with JLL an inner Melbourne Woolworths Metro – its smaller format offering – and other retail tenancies at 4.63%.
Neighbourhood centre yields have for the first time have firmed below sub-regional yields, according to BIS Oxford Economics, averaging 6.3% with some sales achieving below 5.0%. Convenience retail centres, neighbourhood centres and large format centres have underpinned the rebound in retail transaction volumes throughout this year as investors flock to assets that have traded well throughout the pandemic.
In recent listings, the owners of IGA-anchored Meadow Heights Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s northern suburbs are hoping to take advantage of the demand, while Goodman Group has completed its transformation of an empty warehouse in Melbourne’s Fishermans Bend into a Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s-anchored centre.
