Premium Greenvale childcare centre investment changes hands for $8.8 million

A UAE-based family office has acquired a premium childcare centre investment in Greenvale for $8.8 million, reflecting a 5.75% yield.

The sale marks the family office’s entry into the Australian market and was negotiated by CBRE’s Australian Healthcare & Social Infrastructure team of Sandro Peluso, Marcello Caspani-Muto and Jimmy Tat on behalf of a private developer.

Located at 1 Darmain Drive, the property is positioned in the heart of a modern residential precinct with triple street frontage.

Fully leased to Explorers Early Learning, the 152-place centre is trading at near full capacity with a strong waitlist. The long-term lease extends to 2056.

CBRE Director Marcello Caspani-Muto said the transaction reinforced continued demand from Asia and the Middle East for premium social infrastructure assets.

“We are seeing a clear trend where international family offices and private funds are proactively targeting Australia for long-term exposure to the childcare and social infrastructure sectors.,” Mr Caspani-Muto said.

“These investors are attracted to the strong operator performance, accretive lease structures and resilient fundamentals that are unique to this asset class. They are also seeing specific value opportunities across Victoria this year and feel it’s something that will not last long. Despite short term headwinds it’s clear to us the state is chronically undervalued at present,” he added.

CBRE National Director Sandro Peluso added that headwinds felt in some other commercial sectors are not impacting premium childcare investments.

“Explorers Early Learning remains one of the most sought-after covenants in the market. When combined with quality land, strong demographics and sensible rental fundamentals, buyers continue to compete heavily — both domestically and offshore — to secure opportunities like this. While there has undoubtably been some yield softening across the sector, it’s the highest quality operators and buildings that continue to attract outlier results,” Mr Peluso said.

CBRE’s Australian Healthcare & Social Infrastructure team transacted early learning investments across NSW, VIC and QLD in 2025 to varied private and family office capital from Australia, Italy, Dubai, Qatar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and China.