Insatiable Demand For Commercial Strata On The North Shore

A conglomerate of partners and brokers within Shore Financial have purchased two floors at 153 Walker Street, North Sydney for a price believed to be north of $3,000,000. The strata had been owned by a private company for more than 20 years.

Tom Appleby, Colliers International’s Lower North Shore agent, brokered the deal. Although he would not confirm the sale price, he noted that it was the largest on-market commercial strata transaction in North Sydney since 2006.

“It’s extremely rare for two contiguous floors to become available on the North Shore; the amount of enquiry received was immense.

“Not only was there interest from owner-occupiers and leasing tenants hunting office space to purchase, there was also interest from yield-driven investors investigating subdivisions, and developers looking to take advantage of the building’s upside through an amalgamation,” Mr. Appleby said.

Theo Chambers, Shore Financial’s co-founder and director explained, “this is the third time in three years that we’ve outgrown our space. It’s a pleasing reflection of how rapidly the business has grown. We love North Sydney; it’s really starting to get its buzz back. We’re extremely excited about entering the next phase of our journey as we strive to become Australia’s largest independent mortgage broker.”

Lower North Shore office markets, at both the top end and the bottom end, continue to be affected by stock withdrawal for residential development. Colliers International anticipates approximately 148,000 sqm of stock to be withdrawn by 2020. Furthermore, approximately 27,600 sqm of stock is slated for demolition in 2017 to make way for the new “Victoria Cross” train station in North Sydney, as part of the Sydney Metro project.

“It’s no wonder vacancy rates have fallen to a four year low in North Sydney (7.1 per cent) and to the lowest level since 2008 (9.6 per cent) in the St Leonards / Crows Nest precinct,” said Mr Appleby.

With very limited strata supply slated, and larger developments at 100 Mount Street (~40,600 sqm) and 1 Denison Street (~45,720 sqm) unlikely to be fully completed until 2019, demand for existing stock will remain fierce.

“We’re expecting strata transactional activity to be significant in 2016, especially given strong market fundamentals and the looming onset of Strata Reform,” Mr. Appleby said. “After years of price stagnation, lack of supply and pent up demand are likely to push some strata sales above $6,000 per square metre this year.”