- 35 Church Street property sold for $7.15M.
- Church Street vacancies are the lowest in Melbourne at 0.7%.
- Melbourne's first Lifeline op-shop to open in Moonee Ponds.
Melbourne retail strips remain hot property, as low vacancy rates are recorded, deals are struck, and properties are leased out.
Over the first week and a half of August, one property sold for a 17% premium to its 2019 price, another is expecting north of $3 million, and a third property will become home to Melbourne’s first Lifeline op-shop.
Among the shopping strips seeing activity:
- Church Street, Brighton
- High Street, Armadale, and
- Puckle Street, Moonee Ponds.
Fitzroys‘ Walking the Strip report in 2022 recorded a vacancy of 0.7% for Church Street, the lowest of any Melburnian shopping strip for last year. This is less than half the long-term average of 1.68%.
High Street recorded a 5.1% vacancy, and Puckle Street saw vacancies drop from 4.6% to 3.2% across 2022.
The report found that Melbourne’s famous stropping strips had a strong recovery across 2022, coming down to below pre-Covid levels. This was largely driven by the F&B sector.
Vacancies were 10.3% across the 36 key shopping strips in 2021, according to the report, shifting to 6.7% in 2022. This is below the 7.6% average in the years prior to Covid, with the lowest being 6.8% in 2018.
35 Church Street sells for $7.15M
The National Australia Bank (NAB) leased site in Brighton was recently sold for $7.15 million.
The sale price is an uplift of some $1.05 million since the property last sold in 2019, according to Fitzroys. It also reflects a yield of 3.5% and a land rate of $24,826 per square metre (sqm).
NAB, which has been at the site for 30 years, has renewed its lease over the strong performing branch with 5+5+5-year lease that brings a strong income of $254,616 per plus outgoings including land tax.
The property sits on a 288 sqm site and has an 8.5-metre frontage to Church Street.
“This was undoubtedly one of the best Melbourne shopping strip investment opportunities we’ll see for 2023, and the result reflected that,” said Fitzroys’ Mark Talbot, who with Tom Fisher, sold the property on behalf of a local investor.
Among other sales along the street over the past few years:
| Property Address | Tenant(s) | Sale price |
|---|---|---|
| 71-73 Church Street & 36 Carpenter Street | Nike, Ecco, Laurent | $16.2 million |
| 51 Church Street | Flight Centre | $4.45 million |
| 13 Church Street | Oroton | $6.07 million |
| 28 Carpenter Street | N/A | $8.38 million |
Source: Fitzroys.
1014 High Street comes to market
The Armadale property is expected to fetch in the $3 million’s, according to Chris Kombi and Lewis Waddell.
The two-storey, 140 sqm building, sits on a 208 sqm site, with rear access and on-site parking.
It is located in a prime section of High Street, Armadale near Kooyong Road and between Kooyong Road and Huntingtower Road.
The property is currently leased to Nimble Activewear and offered with a strong holding income, with the lease expiring in 2024.
“This part of High Street has 0% vacancy and there’s a number of local, national and international tenants looking for space in the prime of what has undoubtedly become one of Australia’s best-performing retail strips,” Waddell said.
“Rents have increased notably in the last 18 months, so there is excellent rental upside,” he added.
Sales over the past 18 months on the strip include:
| Property address | Sale price | Yield | Land rate per sqm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1082 High Street | $3.235 million | 2.16% | $16,338 |
| 720 High Street | $1.58 million | 3.2% | $11,791 |
| 1272 High Street | $1.715 million | 4.3% | – |
| 1208 High Street | $1.91 million | 3.9% | – |
| 1147-1151 High Street | $6.15 million | 2.7% | $14,500 |
Source: Fitzroys.
Lifeline opens first Melbourne op-shop
A property at 40 Puckle Street in Moonee Ponds has been leased to Lifeline for its first Melbourne op-shop.
Fitzroys’ Franklin Gikas and Ervin Niyaz negotiated the 3+3-year lease to Lifeline at $72,000 per annum on behalf of a private owner.
The 200 sqm open plan space includes a kitchenette and bathroom and boasts a frontage of 7.6 metres.
“Lifeline’s been looking for the right premises in the north-west for a while, and the functional space and commanding street frontage within one of Melbourne’s best-performing shopping strips made this an ideal location,” Gikas said.
