Investor syndicate snaps up Queensland retail centre on near 10% yield
Four Queensland investors have used their self-managed super funds to buy the Springfield Marketplace Shopping Centre for $1,475,000 at a very healthy yield of 9.8%.
The sale of the 627-square-metre retail centre on a 3,235-square-metre site near Ipswich was negotiated by Knight Frank’s Andrew Burke, who says investors are keen to use their self-managed super funds to purchase such investments.
The property had previously been under offer at $1.65 million, according to a listing on commercialrealestate.com.au.
Burke says that interest was “above average” because it is “hard to find something in that price range with a yield of that kind”.
“We believe the price range appealed to many self-managed super funds; disclosing the asking price allowed potential investors to instantly know if it was within their price range,” says Burke.
"Unlike some other property classes all buyers can relate to small-scale retail centres; and finally, there was not actually a huge amount of income-generating assets on the market” he adds.
Located on 30 Commercial Drive, Springfield, the centre is 24 kilometres south-west of the Brisbane CBD.
The complex includes outlets such as Eagle Boys Pizza, Springfield Garden Restaurant, Nina’s bakery, CEBU Asian Supermarket and Salt n’ Battered.
The vendor was Itche Fa Investments.
Two weeks ago, Property Observer reported on market analysis from CBRE revealing that sales of neighbourhood and sub-regional shopping centres had topped $1 billion in the past year.
A total of 38 centres have been traded this year, 37% more than in 2010, with the market sector benefitting from customers moving more towards food and service retailing.
According to Colliers, prime yields in sub-regional and neighbourhood shopping centres start from around 7% and rise up to as 10% in the secondary market.
Colliers head of national research Nerida Conisbee suggest investors consider regional shopping centres under $5 million as well as suburban strata offices.
Major property groups, including Lend Lease and Colonial First State have already started advertising investment funds specifically targeted at sub-regional and neighbourhood shopping centres.
Urbis National director of valuation Matt Cleary says, “Pricing has got back to much more in line with historical trends”.
