Appetite for Large Scale Retail Investment Strong with Record Acquisition of $265 Million Homeworld Helensvale

18 August 2022

Queensland’s premier large format and daily needs centre, Homeworld Helensvale, has sold for $265 million. The Centre comprises over 36,000 square metres of lettable area and a diverse mix of secured large format and convenience retail, health and medical, dining, lifestyle and daily needs tenants.

Colliers and Stonebridge conducted an invitation only international expression of interest (EOI) campaign managed by Philip Gartland of Stonebridge and Lachlan MacGillivray and Stewart Gilchrist of Colliers. The campaign had strong levels of engagement with a mixture of domestic and offshore groups which attracted substantial interest from high net worth privates, institutional groups and developers.

The Centre is situated in the Northern Suburbs of the Gold Coast one of Australia’s fastest growing cities, approximately 18 kilometres north of Surfers Paradise and approximately 60 kilometres south of the Brisbane Central Business District. The landmark 20.3 hectare site is strategically located on the highly trafficked Pacific Highway which experiences approximately 55 million vehicles annually.

“As shoppers increasingly show preference towards experiential retail post lockdowns, Homeworld Helensvale is in a prime position to take advantage of strong household spending and demand from consumers post lockdowns.” Mr MacGillivray said.

“Continued work from home and a reduced supply in the residential market has also boosted key large format retail categories, with many outperforming broader retail sales growth.”

In additional to a secure and diverse income stream, 7.34 hectares of developable vacant land is situated on the same Lot, directly adjacent to the Centre with a portion of the land having preliminary approval for showroom, retail, medical and indoor recreation, and office expansion. Approval for high density residential, hotel and retirement living has also been granted.

“Large Format Retail has been one of the most resilient retail asset classes through the COVID pandemic, with probably the strongest yield compression of all the retail sub-sectors during this time and with average gross face rents having remained stable over Q2 2022.” Mr Gartland said.

Mr Gartland added “Over the past few years, changing consumer behaviours and planning flexibility has allowed the tenancy mix within LFR centres to evolve to suit both retailers and customers alike from both a convenience and flexible trading hour perspective.  Homeworld Helensvale is a very strong example of this evolution”

Ultimately, after a competitive two round EOI process, a High Net Worth Private Investor acquired Homeworld Helensvale. The Sale represents the largest Queensland LFR transaction on record, and the second largest in Australia.