397 Centre Road, Bentleigh
A super-prime retail investment in the heart of one of Melbourne’s best-performing shopping strips has sold under the hammer in a knockout auction result.
Fitzroys agents Mark Talbot and Tom Fisher sold 397 Centre Road, Bentleigh on behalf of a private vendor that had held the property for 50 years.
The sale price of $1.925 million was $275,000 above the reserve, and reflected a sharp yield of 3.6% – one of the tightest seen in 2025 for a prime Melbourne shopping strip investment.
The property comprises an immaculately presented, recently refitted 186sqm ground floor hospitality area with a new, secure 5+5+5-year lease to highly regarded and highly rated Greek restaurant St James Souvlaki.
“Our campaign generated more than 80 enquiries from local and interstate investors, leading to fierce competition between three bidders on auction day smashing the vendor’s reserve,” Talbot said.
“The yield is one of the lowest seen in Centre Road, Bentleigh over the past few years and the strength of the result is up there with what we’d see along traditional heavyweight shopping strips Church Street, Brighton and High Street, Armadale.
Talbot said this was one of the best investment offerings in one of Melbourne’s best-performing shopping strips offered to the market this year.
“The market was impressed by the modern fit-out of the property and particularly with the location. This is the absolute prime of Centre Road, Bentleigh, with a Coles supermarket and large public car park directly to the rear, and is very tightly-held.”
He added, “We’ve seen growing interest from investors across 2025 in well-leased, well-located opportunities in Melbourne’s shopping strips, making for aggressive bidding at our auctions.
“Buyers are back and we have a number of parties from this campaign still looking to invest capital.”
Fisher noted that was the first prime offering on Centre Road, Bentleigh since the release of Fitzroys’ latest Walk the Strip report, which showed that for the first time Centre Road, Bentleigh claimed the lowest vacancy rate in Melbourne – at just 1.0%.
“Centre Road, Bentleigh’s strength has been the product of a very healthy retail offering anchored by three supermarkets, complemented by fashion, services, fresh food, café culture and eateries, and a great mix of national tenants and popular local operators.”
The property is surrounded by national operators including Chemist Warehouse, CBA, ANZ, Sportsgirl, Sussan, Flight Centre, Hunky Dory and more, has unique access to a public car park and Coles supermarket at the rear, and is just metres from the revamped Bentleigh train station.
“The strip continues to demonstrate the vitality of plentiful car parking, and enhanced accessibility,” Fisher said.
“Centre Road’s accessibility by car, bus and tram allows the strip to draw shoppers from a wide catchment throughout the day.”
He said the strip has been supported by excellent demographic fundamentals and a rapidly expanding residential population stemming from the medium- and high-rise residential buildings completed within the area over the past five years.
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