ASX-listed Charter Hall Group has announced that its Direct PFA fund has sold its leasehold interest in its UNSW Kensington office building in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for $80 million. 

 Located at 221-227 Anzac Parade in Kensington, the asset is a purpose-built and administration facility leased by the University of New South Wales, with nine years remaining on the existing lease. 

Charter Hall Direct CEO, Steven Bennett, said the divestment was in line with their portfolio curation strategy.  

“Importantly, this asset was sold in line with its independent valuation, demonstrating our commitment to transacting with financial discipline and acting in the best interest of our investors,” Bennett said.  

The transaction was brokered off-market by Peter Court and Mike Walsh at Cushman & Wakefield. 

The deal comes after property fund management company RF CorVal sold the Wyndham Corporate Centre in Bundall to the City of Gold Coast for $46.25 million last month.    

In July, ASX-listed Centuria Office REIT (COF) sold the 54 Marcus Clarke Street office building in Canberra for $23 million, representing a 1.7% discount to its end-2022 valuation.   

In June, a fully leased, modern A-Grade office building located in Brisbane’s emerging Hamilton Northshore Priority Development Area (PDA) sold for $18.5 million.    

The smaller end of Australia’s commercial property market proved to be more resilient during the first six months of 2023 amid a broader slowdown across the commercial asset classes.    

CBRE’s H1 2023 In and Out report showed that total investment volumes dropped by 50% to $8.8 billion in H1 2023, compared to the same period in 2022. 

Charter Hall said PFA offered investors liquidity windows every five years and had accepted all redemption requests received in response to its most recent liquidity event.