Regional shopping centres in Queensland have continued to attract interstate investors throughout the pandemic, with Mountain View Marketplace in Kirwan, Townsville, being snapped up for $7.75 million.
The neighbourhood shopping centre, anchored by a SUPA IGA and 11 specialties, sold with a fully-leased yield of 6.9 per cent in an off-market deal.
The property was purchased site unseen by a Victorian investor who is experienced in owning shopping centres and, due to Covid imposed travel restrictions, was only able to view the property via Facetime walk through.
It was first marketed for sale by another agency in early 2020, however, it was taken off the market shortly after due to Covid.
Ray White Commercial QLD agents Michael Feltoe and Lachlan O’Keeffe introduced the Victorian purchaser after he had ruled out other metropolitan based IGA anchored investments that were selling for tighter yields.
“There has been a significant uptick in demand from investors to secure established shopping centres in regional QLD, especially since COVID-19 shone a light on how resiliently these regional cities have performed,” Mr Feltoe said.
Mr O’Keeffe said there were many qualities which attracted the buyer to the property.
“The purchaser was drawn to this centre primarily due to the longstanding track record of the operator Cornett Supermarkets (branded SUPA IGA), the Metcash guarantee underpinning the lease and the underlying land parcel was an island site which offered the potential for future development,” he said.
The vendor, OzProp Capital, originally purchased the centre in 2016 for $4.8 million.
“OzProp recognised the opportunity to sell during a time where some of the lowest yields we have ever seen, are being achieved for regional Queensland shopping centres, “ OzProp Capital director Michael Parker said.
“We believed that now was the perfect opportunity to capitalise on our work repositioning the centre and to execute our exit strategy.”
