IndustrialLindsay SaundersWed 14 Oct 26
Homemaker Centre in Melbourne’s North Resets Sector Sales Record
A homemaker centre has traded for a sector record price in Melbourne’s north.
The deal was one of two of note at Epping, 22km north of the CBD.
Forza Capital has sold asset for $117.7 million, more than doubling the price it paid for the asset three years ago.
Epping Home & Life, at 560–650 High Street, was acquired by a Melbourne-based private investor in what is the largest large format retail transaction in Australia this year.
The 26,550sq m centre on a 7.4ha site has 28 tenancies and 783 car spaces.
Those tenants include Officeworks, TK Maxx, Planet Fitness, E&S Trading, Harvey Norman, Petbarn and Chemist Warehouse, with Rebel Sport and Supercheap Auto also joining the centre.
The fund manager acquired the property for $54.25 million in 2023. It implemented a masterplan, added more than 7100sq m of floorspace and refreshed the tenant mix.
The sale price surpasses the $86 million paid for Chadstone Lifestyle Centre in January and the $80.5 million sale of Highpoint Homemaker Centre in Maribyrnong in 2018, setting a record for a Victorian large format retail acquisition by a private investor.
JLL’s Stuart Taylor, Nick Willis and Tom Noonan managed the sale.
Taylor said the property attracted interest from investors across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, including real estate investment trusts, wholesale funds and syndicates.
“Well-capitalised private investors are now transacting at a scale that was once largely the preserve of institutions,” he said.
Contracts have been exchanged, and settlement is expected after construction works for the incoming tenants are completed in early 2027.
Street of industrial assets sold
Meanwhile, a private investor has paid $47.75 million for six industrial tenancies in Epping, securing a portfolio spanning almost an entire street.
The industrial holdings, dubbed the Dream Haven Portfolio comprises 27,539sq m of industrial buildings across a combined 48,826sq m landholding, with the properties spread across five titles.
The portfolio generates more than $2.894 million in annual net rental income, with a weighted average lease expiry of 2.83 years.
Fitzroys agents Marco Sandrin and Brent Glassford negotiated the sale through an expressions-of-interest campaign on behalf of the investor and developer who built out the properties.
Sandrin said the campaign attracted more than 65 enquiries from Victorian, interstate and offshore buyers, including private investors, syndicates, institutional investors and land bankers. Five expressions of interest bids were received, according to the agents.
Sandrin said the campaign indicated demand for industrial properties offering rental income, underlying land value and potential for future development.
Glassford said the combination of established tenants, potential rental growth and the scale of the landholding had attracted the purchaser.
He also pointed to the shortage of industrial land in established Melbourne locations as a factor in the portfolio’s appeal.
Sandrin said they expected improving buyer sentiment to continue through the final quarter of 2026.
