The Beaconsfield Hub retail centre within the growing Cardinia Shire to Melbourne’s south-east has sold.
CBRE’s Rorey James and Nic Hage brokered the sale of the retail complex, which is located at 52-62 Princess Highway and consists of nine separate tenants, including a nail and beauty salon, pilates studio, pool shop, fashion retailer, community bank and three hospitality venues.
At the time of sale, the centre was circa 90% occupied – reflecting a passing yield of just over 6%.
Mr James said the sale followed other major retail transactions earlier this year, notably Coburg Hill Shopping Centre (6.3% yield), The Village Dandenong (5.88% yield) and City West Plasa (6.79% yield). Although similar, Beaconsfield Hub was sold with the absence of a major anchor tenant and a substantially shorter lease expiry.
“With no major anchor tenant and a WALE of just over two-years, the result is an encouraging sign for the wider market,” he continued.
“The depth of interest and price achieved highlights the confidence that investors have in commercial property, specifically retail, given six of the eight tenanted footprints were retail-specific in nature.”
Mr Hage added that over 120 enquiries were received for the centre amid the Stage 4 lockdown period.
“The process was effectively put on hold until clarity was provided in relation to commercial inspections and last Sunday’s announcement certainly brought urgency to a number of groups before being brought to a head with an unconditional position late Sunday evening,” Mr Hage said.
“From the groups that reviewed the information, around 70% were passive investors looking for a favourable return on their money, this is a trend we anticipate continuing for the remainder of 2020 and beyond.”
“With alternative investment options, including bank interest rates and government bonds, providing returns of less than 1% and with a level of uncertainty surrounding the stock market, investors will continue to be driven towards commercial property, where the returns are more often circa 5%.”
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2019 revenue). The company has more than 100,000 employees (excluding affiliates) and serves real estate investors and occupiers through more than 530 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.