Australian Unity buys Springvale warehouse

Health fund Australian Unity has bolstered its property holdings with the purchase of a Springvale warehouse and office complex for almost $13 million.

Australian Unity paid $12.975 million for the facility in Melbourne’s south-east, fully leased to global warehousing and freight forwarding company Mainfreight Distribution.

The deal for the property at 1651-1657 Centre Rd, owned by Adelaide-based MRS Harmony, was struck on a 7.3% yield, with four years remaining on the lease.

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The complex features almost 11,000sqm of buildings, including a 9910sqm warehouse, on a 29,640sqm site.

Savills national industrial directors Chris Jones and Ben Hegarty negotiated the sale, with Jones saying the tenancy profile and main road location weighed in the property’s favour.

“This was an astute purchase of a property which offered sound investment prospects in a continually re-gentrifying locality and importantly with very low surrounding vacancy,” he says.

“With a record $1.87 billion in industrial property sales in the 12 months to June, we are now seeing a growing level of demand for this type of asset as fund managers seek affordable investments in tightly held locations.”

“The demand also reflects a growing acknowledgment that the industrial market in Victoria is responding well.”