Buyer confidence drives $400,000 St Leonards cafe deal

A successful commercial auction on St Leonards’ main retail strip is a sign that residents are assured of the Bellarine Peninsula town’s future growth prospects.

A tenanted retail investment at 1373 Murradoc Rd, St Leonards, sold at auction for $400,000.

Selling agent John McMullin, of Morley Commercial, Richmond, says he thinks half the town had turned out to witness the property go under the hammer.

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The buyers are potentially looking at occupying the space themselves, he says.

“They are cafe operators — they’ve got quite a bit of experience in the industry,” McMullin says.

The cafe at 1373 Murradoc Rd, St Leonards, sold for $400,000.

“They’re not from St Leonards, but they’ve recently moved to St Leonards.”

McMullin says several groups bid on the 156sqm property, which has a high profile location opposite the IGA supermarket complex and is 100m from the bay.

“We had a lot of people from Melbourne looking at it for an investment but what surprised me was there was a lot of local interest — strong local interest.

Inside the cafe at 1373 Murradoc Rd, St Leonards.

“It tells me the town is starting to grow and a lot of people are noticing that and are trying to get in before the boom,” he says.

St Leonards’ residential property market has experienced an increase in sales this year, with relatively modest capital growth of 8.8% over 12 months compared to 36% growth in three years, according to new CoreLogic figures.

While sales of existing properties have grown to 137 this year, it’s in residential land estates where the real growth is occurring.

1373 Murradoc Rd, St Leonards sold to a couple that’s recently moved to the Bellarine Peninsula town.

There are two main competitors in the new home market, Seachange Estate and Bay Breeze Estate, which are on opposite sides of Murradoc Rd.

At Bay Breeze Estate, which is a development from Costa Property group, 240 blocks have sold as sales at the project enter the 13th stage.

This article from the Geelong Advertiser originally appeared as “Buyers confident of growth purchase cafe site in St Leonards”.