Mining woes no concern for Mackay Officeworks buyer
Australia’s mining industry downturn has failed to dampen investor demand for retail properties in regional Queensland, agents say.
Realcommercial.com.au last year reported a lack of opportunities in Brisbane was pushing investors further outside metropolitan areas than ever before, with retail assets in regional and sub-regional areas among the most highly sought-after in the state.
CBRE’s Nick Wallis says little has changed over the New Year period, after a Gold Coast investor paid $5.5 million sale for a building leased to Officeworks in the mining hub of Mackay.
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“While the Queensland regional property market has experienced a softening in recent years due to the downturn in the mining sector, this sale is evidence of a return in confidence to these locations,” Willis says.
The property’s long trading history and prime CBD location in one of Queensland’s main regional hubs provided the successful buyer confidence in the transaction
“We are currently experiencing uplift in investors seeking quality regional assets due to the relatively softer yields compared to that of metropolitan locations.”
The 2160sqm property has 40m of street frontage to Milton and Peel streets and is leased to the stationery and office equipment retailer for the next 10 years.
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Willis says the building’s position in Mackay’s main commercial and retail precinct made it attractive to potential buyers, despite the region’s dependance on the waning mining industry.
“The property’s long trading history and prime CBD location in one of Queensland’s main regional hubs provided the successful buyer confidence in the transaction,” he says.
The sale comes after a Herron Todd White report late last year listed Mackay as one of the few Queensland retail markets that was yet to hit the bottom of its cycle.
Other regional centres in Rockhampton, Hervey Bay, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast, on the other, were already responding positively to rising market conditions, the report said.
