Four major Homemaker centres in $500m offer
A $500 million portfolio of retail Homemaker centres is set to hit the market with properties up for grabs in Queensland and New South Wales.
Investment group Atlis Property Partners will offload four of its large format retail sites, ranging from 3ha to 6.6ha, from June.
The assets include Homemaker The Valley – a 38,000sqm multi-level centre located within 2km of Brisbane’s CBD, with 692 car parks and an array of top-range tenants including Harvey Norman, Freedom, Nick Scali and Aldi.
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Homemaker Prospect, which has 26,000sqm of retails and space and 686 car parks and is situated 31km west of the Sydney CBD, is also part of the portfolio, along with the nearby Homemaker Greenway and Greenway Plaza, which offers 29,000sqm, parking for 691 vehicles and leading retailers Officeworks, The Good Guys, Spotlight and BCF.
The large-format retail sector has clearly benefited from high growth in residential construction and household turnover
The final centre is Homemaker Lake Haven, situated 50km southwest of Newcastle, which is a modern complex boasting 22,000sqm and occupied by leading national retailers Bunnings and Harvey Norman, nine large-format retailers and a cafe.
JLL’s head of retail investments Australasia, Simon Rooney is selling the portfolio on behalf of the investment group and says the building boom has contributed to the value of the properties.
“The large-format retail sector has clearly benefited from high growth in residential construction and household turnover,” Rooney says.
“The fundamentals of the sector are attractive in terms of the outlook for income growth.”
“Spending on household goods has grown by over 23% in New South Wales over the last four years and over 18% nationally.
“In addition, the supply of homemaker space was essentially cut off in 2010 — and has remained extremely low since that time.”
Rooney says the introduction of gyms, food and lifestyle stores has also seen every day customer foot traffic rise in the precincts, adding to their future potential.
Typically, large-format retail assets are viewed as future value-add opportunities for investors as they occupy strategically located and high-profile sites, often in densely populated areas.
The fundamentals of the sector are attractive in terms of the outlook for income growth
They also offer opportunities for redevelopment, underpinned by secure cash flow.
The portfolio hits the market after record sales in the sector last year with more than $1.6 billion in transactions, according to Rooney.
This includes the Home Hub Castle Hill and Home Hub Marsden Park, sold by LaSalle to Aventus in May 2017 for a combined $436 million.
Rooney says the new owners of the New South Wales sites will also benefit from recent planning reforms.
Changes made late last year allow a broader mix of retailers to occupy the precincts, similar to Queensland and Victorian centres.
The retail portfolio will be offered for sale through a formal international expressions of interest campaign closing June 14.
