In a transaction reaffirming capital demand for key metropolitan shopping centres, a 50% interest in Sunshine Marketplace has sold for $71 million.
The sale was exclusively handled by JLL’s Sam Hatcher and Nick Willis through a direct off-market process to private investor.
Sunshine Marketplace is a large-scale sub-regional shopping centre holding located just 12km from Melbourne CBD. Underpinned by a 12.3-hectare land holding, the Centre is a strategic gateway site to the growing western Melbourne catchment.
Sam Hatcher, JLL’s Head of Retail Investments Australia & New Zealand, noted, “Opportunities to acquire metropolitan shopping centres in close proximity to the CBD are rarely presented along the East Coast of Australia. Sunshine Marketplace marks just the fourth Sub-Regional shopping centre to trade in Melbourne on a 12-hectare-plus land holding in the last 15-years”.
Located adjacent to the Melbourne-Bendigo railway line, the Centre has a strategic tenant mix anchored by Woolworths, Big W and Village Cinema. The Centre has a total lettable area of 33,997 sqm, with masterplan approval for an additional ~190,000 sqm of mixed-use floor space.
Nick Willis, Executive Director of Retail Investments Australia & New Zealand, highlights, “Capital depth for Australian retail is intensifying, led by a global resurgence following strong sector performance in the US. We are now beginning to see major investors re-enter the market across all retail sub-sectors.”
Sunshine Marketplace has a strategic location within Melbourne, at the epicenter of investment and connectivity, with the State and Federal governments committing more than $120 billion to Western Melbourne, delivering projects such as the Suburban Rail Loop and Melbourne Airport Rail – Melbourne’s first airport rail service, which will travel directly through the suburb of Sunshine.
Sam Hatcher continues, “Across all traditional retail sub-sectors, Sub-Regional Centres have recorded the tightest supply of deal volumes in 2025, down 32% YoY, despite total deal volumes for retail property up 56% YoY. This tightening of supply within the Sub-Regional space, which has been the most liquid over 2022-24, is leading to strong demand and yield compression as a growing weight of capital looks to deploy into the sub-sector.”
Nick Willis further explains, “We are now entering a period of capital deployment convergence of institutional, syndicators and private investors looking to acquire. Sub-Regional assets due to their price point and typically stronger liquidity, are the beneficiary of the majority of capital inflows; however restricted supply throughout 2025 is challenging the deployment of capital into the sub-sector.”
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