This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A Woolworths-anchored neighbourhood shopping centre in Geelong owned by prominent sports doctor Peter Brukner has sold for just over $20 million.
Woolworths Curlewis Shopping Centre was originally developed by the shopping centre’s development arm Fabcot in 2015, and picked up by Brukner in 2019 for $17.1 million.
The centre is anchored by a full-line Woolworths supermarket and also has 7 specialty shops, a kiosk and ATM. It is located in the heart of the Bayview Estate Curlewis, about 19 kilometres east of Geelong.
The transaction is only the third neighbourhood centre to have been publicly announced as sold in Victoria this year, highlighting the rarity of similar offerings.
Justin Dowers and Kevin Tong of Stonebridge handled the off-market sale with the purchaser being sourced by the agency’s Asia Practice division.
“The eventual purchaser was a first-time investor who was ultimately attracted to the Woolworths covenant, despite being in a regional location,” Tong said.
Dowers said the average yields for neighbourhood centres in FY25 so far is 5.90% which is below the current cost of debt.
“The sale of Woolworths Curlewis Shopping Centre is no exception to this, which shows the level of confidence investors have in this highly defensive sub-sector of the market.
“We are seeing buyers continue to be attracted to the non-discretionary nature of these assets, which are commanding a premium.”
Total shopping centre sales volumes have been subdued, according to CBRE Research, however, the neighbourhood sector has continued to dominate the total national sales volume accounting for 64% of all shopping centre transactions as investors look for resilient assets with predictable cash flow in these economic conditions.
A freestanding regional Victoria Woolworths supermarket, in Ballarat’s Wendouree, sold last month for just under $13 million, on a mid-5% yield.
Elsewhere, a Melbourne-based private investment group snapped up the recently opened Warbu-Bellmere Shopping Centre in the Sunshine Coast growth corridor for $37.75 million, on a 5.52% yield, while Sydney-based investment group Maker Invest has reached northwards over the border and purchased the IGA-anchored East Brisbane Marketplace for $16.25 million, at 6.21%.
