PWD’s $75m Buy Sets Large Format Retail Sale Benchmark

Property investor and developer PWD has picked up a WA centre for what is being touted as the most paid for a large format retail asset this year.

Australian real estate investment trust HomeCo sold its HomeCo Midland centre 15km west of the Perth CBD to PWD for $74.75 million in a sale handled by JLL’s Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher along with Vend Property’s Jeff Klopper.

HomeCo Midland has more than 2ha of retail space and includes home and furniture giants JB-HiFi home, Officeworks, Freedom and Snooze.

After a stellar 2022, the large format retail sector has been somewhat subdued with just 30 deals this year.

Volumes for retail transactions for the first half of the year are down 50 per cent on the same period last year, the lowest on record.

Notable LFR deals in 2023 include the sale of HomeCo Epping, Victoria to Forza Capital for $70.25 million, and Rothwell Central, Queensland acquired by OzProp Holdings for $41 million.

“Given the robust performance of the LFR sector and its strong underlying fundamentals—being land rich and almost irreplaceable given the rise in construction costs—we are continuing to experiencing demand from well-capitalised parties able to transact,” Willis said.

“However, amassing portfolios of scale is difficult with investment supply of institutional-grade assets tightly held, as the majority of the market is controlled by a handful of players.”

PWD director Banjo Bond said the large land holding was in a prime location near major road infrastructure and Perth international airport.

“The investment proposition is highly compelling with retail trade in WA remaining the most robust in the country,” Bond said.