Sydney Home Hub pair fetch biggest ever homemaker price

A pair of Home Hub centres in suburban Sydney have sold for a combined $436 million, in a deal believed to be Australia’s biggest ever in the large format retail sector.

Aventus Property Group bought both centres, at Castle Hill and Marsden Park, after LaSalle Funds Management put them on the market earlier this year.

Home Hub Castle Hill fetched $336 million, while Home Hub Marsden Park reached $100 million, after an international expressions of interest campaign.

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The prices reflected a significant premium on the $178.5 million Aventus paid for the Castle Hill property just five years ago, and the $66 million it paid for Marsden Park in 2015 before spending money upgrading it.

Spread over 50,000sqm, the Castle Hill site one of Sydney’s largest retail centres, while Marsden Park sits within Sydney Business Park, alongside Bunnings, Ikea, Aldi and a soon-to-be-completed Costco.

The large format retail centre Home Hub at Marsden Park.

JLL’s Simon Rooney negotiated the sale of the two centres in conjunction with McVay Real Estate, and says the sale broke records.

“The sale of Home Hub Castle Hill and Home Hub Marsden Park was the largest homemaker transaction in Australia’s history,” Rooney says.

“There is a very limited number of major, core assets in the LFR (large format retail) sector across Sydney, so these presented a rare opportunity to acquire significant scale in the sector.”

“The deep investor pool was clearly attracted to the long-term potential and the high population growth outlook for both assets, given their strategic location, positioned within Sydney’s north-west corridor – one of Australia’s strongest growth precincts.”