The spectre of higher interest rates and the exit from pandemic lockdowns has done little to temper demand for prime industrial property in the eastern seaboard capitals, with valuations almost doubling in key precincts over the last 12 months.
Agents attribute the red-hot growth to an emerging acute land shortage, along with ecommerce and logistics demand that has been decoupled from lockdown-era activity.
Centuria Industrial REIT has bought an industrial facility at 82-92 Rodeo Road, Gregory Hills, Sydney
“Recently demand has far outpaced supply and there has been a scramble among developers to restock their land banks,” Cushman & Wakefield research manager Sean Ellison said.
The firm’s data shows that in Melbourne, industrial land prices (for plots of more than one hectare) have risen 67 per cent year-on-year in the west, with northern prices up 34 per cent and south-east values gaining 18 per cent.
Historically, land prices in the north and the west have lagged those of Melbourne’s south-east market, so the figures suggest a degree of catch-up as buyers latch on to the precincts’ easy access to the airport, ports and interstate routes.
In the latest deal, Centuria Industrial, the country’s largest listed pure-play industrial fund, has snapped up four high-quality, eastern seaboard industrial facilities for a collective $129.4million.
Jesse Curtis, fund manager and Centuria’s head of industrial said, the acquisitions lend themselves to last-mile logistics and distribution tenant customers and benefit from strong tailwinds across Australia’s industrial sector, particularly from the strong rise in eCommerce adoption and supply chain on shoring.
The largest was the 22,439 square metre, $70 million transport logistics facility in Gregory Hills, Sydney, fully leased to GMK Logistics through Colliers International’s Gavin Bishop, Sean Thompson and Fab Dalfonso.
The fund also expanded its Derrimut landholdings with a 10,733sqm, $20.6million industrial facility located at 30 Fulton Drive, Victoria through CBRE’s Ben Hegerty and 870 Lorimer Street, Port Melbourne through Dawkins Occhiuto’s Chris Jones and Walter Occhiuto.
Centuria Industrial add $129.4m to asset base as the sector booms
Source: Philippines Alive
