Half-dozen childcare centres to attract $50m

It sounds like a deal you might stumble across at nearby Chadstone Shopping Centre – except the stakes are much, much higher.

Buy one childcare centre for a pretty penny, or save yourself a million or two by buying another five as part of the one package.

A string of lucrative Victorian childcare centres are for sale, with buyers expected to be able to pick one up for as much as $9 million, or plump for all six for $50 million.

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The centres, which are fully leased and spread throughout Melbourne, with most situated in the south and south-east, are expected to attract heavy competition due to their long-term leases childcare heavyweights including G8 Education, Guardian Early Learning and Nino Early Learning Adventures.

Two of the centres, in Hughesdale and Point Cook, attract rents of more than $500,000 per annum and are subject to 20-year leases with further 10-year options.

The other properties in Ashwood, Blackburn North, Mentone and Carnegie are leased for between $367,822 and $498,015, mostly on 20-year leases.

The Carnegie childcare centre has a 20-year lease.

Savills Julian Heatherich, Clinton Baxter and Benson Zhou and marketing the properties, with Heatherich describing them as a rare opportunity to instantly become a major player in Melbourne’s childcare scene, at a time when childcare facilities have rarely been more sought-after.

“This is an ideal opportunity to secure one or more state-of-the-art child care centres featuring all fundamental investment attributes including blue-chip tenants on long leases,’’ Baxter says.

“With recent childcare sales at yields ranging from 3.89% in Thornbury to 5.1% in Rowville, investors have a fantastic opportunity to secure genuine value and compelling rental yields in this portfolio of properties.”

Heatherich adds: “This is a brilliantly assembled portfolio combining exceptional landholdings, quality buildings, geographic diversity and a tenancy profile that is rarely available elsewhere in the commercial property market.”

“Put this together with built-in rental growth and significant income tax depreciation benefits in a rapidly growing, government backed industry and it is an asset that will find few peers.”

The properties are for sale via expressions of interest, which close on April 26.