Perth draws the retail crowds as shopping centre trades hit $160m

New buyers snapped up Forest Lakes Shopping Centre in Perth’s southeastern suburbs for $81.5m.

Perth is becoming the centre of a new run of retail property dealmaking as the trading performance of the city’s malls holds up.

Just this week, West Australian-based Greenpool Capital and offshore giant Savills Investment Management have snapped up Forest Lakes Shopping Centre in the city’s southeastern suburbs for $81.5m.

The deal continues a run of action in mid-size shopping centres and ­supermarkets, which are holding up even as some larger malls are selling.

The listed Stockland has also offloaded a single-level subregional centre at Bull Creek to private investor Gerard O’Brien for $78m after a competitive process. CBRE’s Simon Rooney and James Douglas handled the sale of Forest Lakes.

“The interest in Forest Lakes Shopping Centre underlines the strong demand for non-discretionary assets despite rising interest rates,” Mr Rooney said. “There remains strong capital demand and therefore liquidity for quality retail assets, particularly assets which are tightly held, with Forest Lakes an example of a deep and broad pool of investors having conviction about an opportunity and pursing it.”

The deals were struck as another Perth triple-supermarket-anchored shopping centre, Southlands Boulevarde, hit the market as part of a wider portfolio from global real estate company Lendlease.

That $500m offer includes Menai Marketplace in Sydney and Settlement City in Port Macquarie, NSW, with CBRE and JLL handling this process.

Forest Lakes is the third retail purchase by Greenpool Capital and comes after it snapped up North Adelaide Village, Adelaide, and Runaway Bay Shopping Centre on the Gold Coast.

Sitting in the inner-Perth suburb of Thornlie and anchored by Coles, Woolworths and Aldi supermarkets, the 14,577sq m centre also houses 42 speciality shops, kiosks and pad sites.

“Neighbourhood shopping centres continue to prove resilient in a post-pandemic era, offering superior risk-adjusted returns for investors. Greenpool is currently preparing an information memorandum for the investment opportunity and welcome interest from wholesale investors,” Greenpool Capital managing director Brad Osborne said.

CBRE’s Mr Douglas said the centre was on a site of more than 6.6ha, giving the buyer the opportunity to add value: “The supermarkets are exceptional performers, contributing to in excess of $100m in sales and are complemented by a relatively low provision of specialty shops, performing above industry benchmarks.”

Stockland Bull Creek is a strong-performing subregional centre near key freeway and rail networks only 13km south of the Perth CBD. The centre is on a 5.92ha site with major frontage to South St, offering easy ­access for shoppers.

Anchored by strong-performing majors Woolworths supermarket and Target discount department store, the centre is supported by a specialty tenancy mix weighted towards food catering, fashion and retail services.

Colliers agents Lachlan MacGillivray and Richard Cash brokered the deal, which showed a passing yield of about 6.5 per cent. The 16,896sq m centre has more than 50 specialty stores. In keeping with the themes that investors are chasing it is positioned as a convenience and value destination.