Private investor acquires high-yielding Melton childcare centre

A private investor has kicked off 2025 by snapping up a childcare centre in Melbourne’s outer suburb of Melton for $5.355 million, reflecting a $1 million uplift in price in just over 12 months.

CBRE’s Australian Healthcare and Social Infrastructure team of Sandro Peluso, Marcello Caspani-Muto and Jimmy Tat sold the property with negotiations finalised over the Christmas and New Year period.

The property, located at 8-10 Sherwin Court, has a land area of 4,000sqm and includes a 10-year initial lease term with multiple options. The centre is licensed for 100 childcare places.

Mr Caspani-Muto noted childcare investments with such notable tenure below price points of $7 million are increasingly rare.

“While the Christmas and new year period is typically a shutdown for agents, we have found this period to be one of the most successful for us over the past 10 years with many high-net-worth private investors interested in making investment decisions at this time,” Mr Caspani-Muto added.

Mr Peluso said, “The tenant, Little Stars, has a great reputation and have carved out their own niche at affordable price points for parents in a market typically focused on high quality and high cost childcare. They have seven locations across Victoria and strong levels of occupancy at all centres.

“We see this sale as another positive result in a strong run of outcomes the team have achieved across the country in the childcare sector over the past 12 months. We broke a number of pricing and volume yield records for trophy assets last year, and we have no reason to expect this year will be any different. Buyers continue to see the relative success of investment in the early learning market and comparatively moderate yield softening and this is fuelling long-term investment confidence,” Mr Peluso added.