Sydney, 23April 2013- The smaller end of the commercial market is continuing to strengthen with recent auction results highlighting particularly strong demand for development sites in suburban Sydney.
In one of the most recent deals, Roads and Maritime Services realised a stronger than expected price of $1.462 million from the sale of a site at Casula in Sydney’s south west.
There were 26 registered bidders and approximately 60 bids for the property, which was sold at auction to a local developer through Peter Vines and Frank Oliveri of CBRE.
"We are finding increased interest in development sites in growth areas,” Mr Oliveri said
"North west and south west Sydney are the primary targets for residential developers and local home builders and we’re also fielding greater interest from non-core development groups - for instance community and religious groups - and from a number of seniors living developers who have on-going site requirements.”
Mr Oliveri added that demand was strong across the board, ranging from small residential development sites suited for 10 lots up to residential high rise development sites which could accommodate in excess of 500 units.
In the case of Causla, there is potential to subdivide the 5,911sqm Incense Place property into 10-12 blocks, subject to the relevant planning approvals.
Prices at auction are also being bid up by owner occupiers and investors, as highlighted by the recent auction under the hammer sales of properties at Silverwater and Bondi.
In the case of Bondi, six groups lodged over 100 bids for a vacant shop on Campbell Parade which was sold under the hammer last month.
A private buyer secured the 200sqm shop for a price of $1,760,000 – well above the $1,250,000 achieved for an adjoining strata retail suite just six months ago.
The property, which occupies a prominent site, just metres from Bondi Beach, was sold by CBRE’s Tim Grosmann and Nicholas Heaton.
Mr Grosmann said the property achieved the extraordinary result due to the competition between local eastern suburbs investors and international groups. He added that the price was pushed to its premium by the adjoining owner and a potential owner occupier for Melbourne.
In the case of Silverwater, CBRE was able to achieve a better than expected sale price of $3.2 million for an industrial facility that is presently leased month to month to a church group.
CBRE’s Shaun Timbrell and Peter Vines steered the auction sale of the 2 Clyde Street property, which includes an existing single level building on a large site of 4,282sqm.
“Properties in the area are tightly held and this particular asset benefited from existing use rights as a place of worship, which resulted in extremely strong interest in the sale campaign by owner occupier and investor groups,” Mr Vines said.
The freestanding building has been fitted out to house approximately 300 people seated in the main auditorium, with several additional rooms used for a creche, teaching, offices and kitchen facilities. There is also a large shed separate from the main building that has been transformed by the tenant into a functioning classroom.
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