YFG Shopping Centres has bought the Strathpine Centre in Brisbane for $267 million in an off-market deal, adding to its growing Queensland retail portfolio.
The property is a suburban shopping centre with 45,304 sqm of gross lettable area located on a 17.47-hectare site about 22km north of the Brisbane CBD.
It is anchored by supermarkets Woolworths, Coles and Aldi; discount department stores Big W and Target; and a Birch Carroll and Coyle cinema complex.
Major, national and chain tenants represented 84% of total GLA and 83% of the total gross passing rental income.
The deal comes after YFG, a family business which controls more than 20 shopping centres in south-east Queensland, completed the acquisition of Mt Ommaney Centre from Vicinity Centres and Nuveen Real Estate for $379.5 million last year.
CBRE’s Head of Retail Capital Markets – Pacific, Simon Rooney negotiated the sale.
“Queensland has been a clear standout in 2021, with $3.7 billion in retail deals transacted year to date, with significant confidence demonstrated in the Queensland retail market noting the limited COVID impacts,” Rooney said.
“Investor interest has been underpinned by robust retail expenditure and forecast population growth, coupled with the fact that shopping centres in Queensland have been significantly less impacted by COVID than other major eastern seaboard markets.
“Following the strong momentum shift in the retail investment market in the second half of 2021, we expect transaction activity, sales volumes and pricing to continue to increase moving into 2022 across all national retail investment markets.”
There has been strong ongoing interest in Queensland retail investment opportunities this year.
Last week, AMP Capital, UniSuper and Cbus Property purchased the remaining 20% of the Pacific Fair shopping centre on the Gold Coast for $336.4 million.
Greenpool Capital and Qualitas took over the Gold Coast’s Runaway Bay Centre after buying the remaining 50% interest from Vicinity Centres for $132 million last month, while Vicinity Centres bought a 50% stake in the Gold Coast’s Harbour Town outlet centre from a Lendlease-managed fund for $358 million in October.
In Queensland’s Hervey Bay, a new Bunnings store under construction sold for $58.6 million last month, setting a new national yield record of 4% for the hardware retail chain.
Outside of the state, Primewest bought a Woolworths-anchored retail centre under construction in Sydney from Fridcorp for $41.5 million last week, while the AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund acquired an additional 25 per cent stake in Sydney’s Macquarie Centre for $422.5 million.
Last month, Link REIT bought a 50% stake in three retail properties in Sydney from GIC for $538.2 million, in addition to CIP Asset Management’s sale of a 50% stake in Sydney’s Roselands shopping centre to JY Group for $167 million.
