Owner occupiers snap up brand-new industrial warehouses prior to completion

8 May 2023

Colliers and CBRE have secured the sale of three brand-new industrial assets, totalling over $12.5 million, in one of Melbourne’s fastest-evolving industrial precincts, Cranbourne West.

Colliers Luke Lowden and Sam Hibbins sold the 6,272sqm parcel to Poplar Constructions in 2021 for $440/sqm. They were later exclusively appointed to sell the three industrial facilities at 14, 16 and 18 Furlong Street in conjunction with CBRE.

“We worked with Poplar Constructions to create warehouses that would fill a gap in the market, as the stock for assets of between 1,000 to 2,000sqm sizes are scarce,” said Colliers Associate Director Luke Lowden.

“We received a high volume of interest for the brand-new warehouses, particularly from owner- occupiers. We managed to secure all three sales two months prior to completion at an average square metre rate of $2,622/sqm across all three properties.”

All three assets were purchased by owner-occupiers, who are expanding and relocating from other industrial warehouses in various Melbourne and interstate locations.

Strategically located within one of Melbourne’s fastest evolving industrial precincts, Cranbourne West benefits from easy access to some of the south east’s major road networks, including

Thompson Road, Frankston Dandenong Road and the South Gippsland Highway, 40 km south east of Melbourne’s CBD.

Colliers Associate Director, Sam Hibbins, said, “Cranbourne West is no longer a peripheral South Eastern industrial location. It is attracting strong demand from occupiers and investors due to its proximity to EastLink (M3) and being surrounded by some of Victoria’s fastest growing residential suburbs.”

“The Cranbourne West industrial precinct is set to quadruple in size within the next 3-5 years largely due to ESR’s upcoming 79 hectare Green Link estate and Salta’s 123 hectare 690 Westernport Highway Industrial Estate. With most of these industrial developments offered for leasehold only, we expect owner-occupier demand to continue exceeding sale supply and prices to remain strong,” Mr Hibbins concluded.