Melbourne, 23 July 2013- A Melbourne CBD building has been sold under the hammer for $2,203,000 in front of a crowd of over 90 people. The property, located at 62-64 Little La Trobe Street in the northern precinct of Melbourne’s CBD, was purchased by a local owner occupier who had to fend off five competitive bidders on the day.
The property is a three storey brick building totalling circa 368sqm which has been owner occupied and used as residential property. Located between Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street, the property was offered for sale with vacant possession.
The CBRE City Sales team of Josh Rutman, Ed Wright and Mark Wizel steered the public auction campaign which attracted interest from over 170 local investors, owner occupiers and residential developers.
CBRE Senior Manager Josh Rutman said; “Despite the poor condition of the existing improvements and lack of income, we handled significant interest throughout the campaign, with the majority of interest coming from parties looking to refurbish the property for a range of residential, office and/or retail uses. There continues to be a real supply/demand imbalance in the current market place for sub $10 million CBD assets, which was illustrated by the fierce competition for this particular property.”
Mr Wright said the campaign had highlighted that buyers were being supported by financiers to again consider assets with low or no passing income (62-64 Lt La Trobe Street was sold with vacant possession).
“The current low cost of funds is giving buyers in the sub $10 million market the confidence to act and buy. There is significant pent up demand in this price bracket with local investors, developers and owner occupiers competing with locally based and off shore Asian buyers,” Mr Wright said.
Mr Wright added; “There has been no better time to purchase a freestanding CBD building with the latest interest rate cut to 2.75% making the cost of finance the lowest in five decades. This, along with the recent changes in Self-Managed Super Fund investing is fuelling the current strong demand buyer demand.”
The sale is the latest in Little La Trobe Street following the June action of 38-40 Little La Trobe Street, which was sold to a local investor for $2,460,000.
Following the success of these campaigns, CBRE City Sales has launched an auction campaign for 11 Heffernan Lane. The four-level CBD building, located in the heart of Melbourne’s Chinatown, will be auctioned on Friday 16th August at 12:30pm.
Mr Wright said; “The northern precinct of the CBD is attracting strong interest, as investors and owner occupiers look to relocate from metro Melbourne into this precinct. Businesses that benefit from the universities, particularity RMIT and RMIT Business College, are capitalising on the growing number of students flocking to this part of the CBD on a daily basis and retail trade has clearly benefitted.”
The location is highly accessible via public transport with Melbourne Central train station a short walk away. Premium tram and bus routes located along Elizabeth and Swanston Street also service the precinct.
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