- The resort hit the market in February this year
- The Expressions of Interest campaign closed in March
- Tourism numbers for the region are above pre-Covid levels
The Marine Terrace property hit the market in February this year, with local vendors putting it up for an Expressions of Interest campaign that closed on 9 March 2023.
Busselton Beach Resort has now changed hands following the end of a 40-year timeshare agreement.
CBRE’s Ryan McGinnity and Chloe Mason and Stocker Preston’s Louis and Peter Di Chiera brokered the sale on behalf of private vendors, who took back the property at the end of the timeshare arrangement.
The 1.7-hectare Marine Terrace site was developed in the early 1980s and comprises 32 self-contained villas with two or three bedrooms. Each villa has a kitchen, living and dining areas. The resort also includes parking for cars, caravans, and boats, along with leisure amenities including tennis, squash, and basketball courts, as well as a mini putting green, bowling green, outdoor heated pool and spa, gymnasium, and sauna.
Located six minutes from the famous Busselton Jetty and town centre, the property was marketed as both a revenue-generating asset and a redevelopment opportunity.
“The sale offers investors, developers, and operators the opportunity to purchase a beach side parcel of WA’s Southwest coastline. Being in an area with strong tourism fundamentals, an incoming owner will immediately benefit from operating the asset, while planning for a future refurbishment or redevelopment,” said McGinnity when the property was listed earlier this year.
Busselton and the Margaret river region is also expected to benefit from a direct link to the east coast, with Jetstar operating direct flights to Busselton from Melbourne.
Investment in the South West grows
The sale of Busselton Beach Resort comes as several other assets in the region recently changed hands.
“We continue to witness the growing appetite and demand for regional accommodation assets throughout Western Australia,” McGinnity said.
“This transaction follows our recent sales of Bunbury Lighthouse Resort, Ace Accommodation Albany and the Sebel Mandurah, representing a combined investment of nearly $48 million into the flourishing southwest accommodation market,”
Mason added, “With the challenges of border closures and lockdowns a thing of the past, hotel groups, funds, owner-operators, and even newcomers to the accommodation sector are actively seeking their next investment to leverage the sustained growth in regional tourism.”
“Despite yields softening across several asset classes, the hotel market remains resilient, with a considerable amount of capital eagerly awaiting deployment.”
Di Chiera said the campaign attracted 140 enquiries and eight expressions of interest from a wide range of prospective buyers.
Tourist numbers continue to exceed pre-Covid levels
The Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association’s National Visitation Results for the year ending September 2022 found that the region attracted 1.616 million intrastate and interstate visitors for the year end September 2022.
While the figures were steady, showing a marginal 0.1% decline compared with the previous year, visitation remains above pre-Covid levels; year end September 2019 saw 1.453 million visitors.
The time spent in the region has also grown, with the pre-Covid levels seeing 4.349 million visitor nights spent in the Margaret River Busselton area, while the September 2022 figures recorded 5.813 million visitor nights; the September 2022 figure is up 3.1% from the previous year.
