Gold Coast Shopping Centre Sells for $12.5 million

The Gold Coast retail investment market continues to ride a wave of sales activity with a Coles-anchored shopping centre at Upper Coomera the latest to be traded.

In an off-market transaction by Peter and Jon Tyson of Savills, the Upper Coomera centre was sold by an Adelaide-based private consortium to an undisclosed Chinese investor for $12.5 million on a yield of 6.7%.

Developed in 2005, the Upper Coomera centre is located on the northern end of the Gold Coast and comprises a 2,500sq m Coles Supermarket supported by three specialty shops.

Savills Peter Tyson commented: "We sold the centre to the current owners in 2009 and six years later the investment vehicle had reached the end of its planned investment horizon. The owners then approached us to sell the centre and preferred to act off market.""The centre quickly generated offers from different groups, but was snapped up by a Chinese private investor. With only three speciality and a major supermarket anchor, the centre has always been 100% leased. As an offshore owner, the combination of the low leasing risk and ease of management had instant appeal to the buyer."The Upper Coomera sale follows the sale of two other Coles-anchored shopping centres totalling over $32 million also recently brokered by Savills on the Gold Coast.

The Banora Central shopping centre was sold for $19 million to a Sydney-based private buyer at a yield of 6.5%. The Bell Central shopping centre at Mudgeeraba was acquired by Clarence Property for $13.5 million. Both these sales followed expressions of interest campaigns conducted by Savills.

Savills last year also brokered the sale of a brand new free-standing Kmart at Oxenford for $22.7 million, reflecting a record low yield of 5.95%.