Weekly Update 12/7/2021

12 July 2021

Welcome to this week’s Property News.

It was fairly slow week news wise in the Property Industry as most REITs are in a block out phase ahead of annual results to be announced in a few weeks. But of course, the news of Sydney going back into lock down took our attention as COVID cases surge once more in the community. The impacts are once again greatest in the larger shopping centres and CBDs areas which rely on high traffic flow and we all hope that the latest outbreak will be quickly contained.

The good news is that the vaccines rates, and more importantly, access to the vaccine appears to be improving suggesting that 2022 is likely to be a more settled year. Whilst this latest outbreak is disappointing, it has brought with it a greater sense of urgency of the need to get to the point of living with the virus.

In other property news this week, my attention was drawn to the increase in weekly real estate transactions recorded by our RESourceData service. An increasing level of confidence has seen a significant rise in commercial real estate transactions. We recorded 56 transactions, the second highest weekly level in the past 12 months. The average price of the transactions was approx $21m, as a larger number of private investors and developers transacted on assets.

HomeCo’s acquisition of Town Centre Victoria Point was the largest transaction recorded this week at $160m. Whilst this asset has an element of non discretionary retail, it has a good mix of retailers who cater to local population. The Centre is laid out in open air clusters, each with ample parking and easy access which is critical to the success of Centres facing the challenges facing the sector from COVID impacts and the ongoing dilution of customers from online competitors. The Centre is likely to have further development potential over time and will likely to continue to deliver a stable yield over the medium term.

If you have any news, information or research reports you’d like us to share with the market, please feel free to send me an email at info@propertymarkets.news.