CBRE clears $51m worth of property at portfolio auction

Five of the seven properties offered last Thursday night sold, with the event supporting the agency’s initial move to launch into portfolio auctions in August.

A Charter Hall-run fund sold a freestanding supermarket at Kerang in Victoria’s northwest for $15.7 million with the pricing showing a yield of 6.19%.

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Four other properties sold under the hammer while two were passed in. Properties that passed in included the Nino Childcare Centre in Mickelham and an A Mart Furniture Store in the ACT.

A childcare centre at Point Cook sold at CBRE’s portfolio auction.

CBRE national director Mark Wizel says the auction attracted 112 registered attendees, 40 registered bidders and 11 registered interstate phone bidders.

Interest in the childcare sector was a theme with a Guardian Early Learning Group-leased asset at Point Cook selling to a Melbourne family for $6.56 million on a yield of 5.9%. Three bidders competed for the centre, which was underwritten by a 12-year lease. Other childcare assets to change hands on the night included Nino branded centres in Melbourne’s Bundoora and Ashburton.

Artist images of the new Nino-leased childcare centre at Lot 2, 222 Plenty Road, Bundoora.

CBRE has now sold $55.75 million of childcare centres in the last eight weeks via its auctions and the sharpest yield on the night was 5.68% for the Nino asset in Ashburton, which was snapped up by locally-based Chinese family.

CBRE national director, Asian Services, Lewis Tong, acknowledges reports that Chinese interest in commercial property assets in Australia has been patchy but he is upbeat after the sales.

“We have seen slower periods before and I’m confident that Chinese buyers will continue to be attracted by the strong fundamentals of the Australian commercial property market,” he says.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.