Top 10 Transactions of 2024

Australia’s commercial sector is showing signs of recovery as price corrections wash through and investors re-enter the market. Transaction volumes are up on the previous year and a healthy deal pipeline is expected to push it out past the 2023 doldrums. According to MSCI data, transaction volumes hit $8.2 billion in the third quarter of 2024, which was an 11 per cent increase on 12 months prior, but it is still well-below the five-year average according to MSCI head of Pacific Real Estate Research Ben Martin-Henry. “Encouragingly, year-to-date figures are up 12 per cent compared to the same period in 2023, totalling $23.8 billion, suggesting that 2024 is likely to surpass last year’s results, especially given the substantial deal pipeline,” Martin-Henry says. “Nearly $2.9 billion of transactions are pending settlement, and if all these deals close before year-end, then 2024 will exceed 2023 levels.” Martin-Henry said while rate cuts had not materialised in 2024, market confidence was “providing stability in borrowing costs and narrowing the pricing gap between buyers and sellers”. “According to our MSCI Price Expectations Gap analysis, the buyer-seller pricing gap for Sydney offices has reduced to -6.7 per cent, down from -21.6 per cent at the end of 2023, a sign that valuation adjustments are aligning with market expectations.” Here are the top 10 individual property transactions for the year according to MSCI Real Analytics data. 1. 55 Pitt Street, Sydney Seller: Mirvac Buyer: Mitsui Fudosan Agents: CBRE, Knight Frank Price: $1.3 billion With frontages to Pitt, Underwood and Dalley Streets, 55 Pitt will deliver approximately 70,000sq m of premium commercial and activated retail space designed by SHoP Architects and Woods Bagot. Mitsui Fudosan acquired a 66 per cent stake in the building, which is currently under construction. 2. Westpoint Shopping Centre Seller: QIC Buyer: Haben Property Fund JV with Hines Agents: Colliers International Price: $900 million Sydney’s Westpoint Shopping Centre has sold for about $900 million in the largest individual retail asset transaction in Australian history. In its first Australian retail deal, the US-based Hines has partnered with Australian property management firm Haben to pick up the centre at Blacktown from QIC, which has held it for 34 years. 3. 1953-2109 Elizabeth Drive, Badgerys Creek Seller: Roberts Jones Pty Ltd Buyer: Richmond Bridge Investment Management Pty Limited Agents: - Price: $862.4 million Investment manager Richmond Bridge acquired the 2.8 million sq m site, which is slated for a commercial and industrial precinct. The group, founded in 2022, has been busy buying up strategically important sites. 4. Burra Park Development Site - Liverpool Sydney Seller: Robert Jones Funds Management Buyer: ISPT JV UniSuper Agents: - Price: $852.5 million The 2.8 million sq m site development site transacted at a rate of $304 per sq m according to MSCI Real Capital Analytics in an off-market transaction. The joint venture plans to develop a $4 billion logistics hub on the site next to the Western Sydney Airport , which is currently under construction. 5. Austrak Business Park - Hume, Melbourne Seller: GPT JV Austrak Buyer: Aware Super JV Barings Agents: Cushman &amp; Wakefield Price: $600 million Aware Super’s real estate arm splashed $600 million on a 99ha industrial estate north of Melbourne, which could be the biggest single industrial acquisition in about 15 years. Aware Real Estate would manage the site with global investment partner Barings . Aware Real Estate already owns Austrak Business Park’s $400-million Somerton Intermodal Terminal (SIT)—Australia’s largest intermodal freight terminal, which is due for completion next year. 6. 10-20 Bond Street - Sydney Seller: Mirvac JV Morgan Stanley Buyer: BentallGreenOak Agents: - Price: $580 million Investment giant BGO transacted on the office and retail block at 10-20 Bond Street, its first entry into the direct market in Australia. The building changed hands for $580 million, a discount on its previous sale price of $650 million in March 2019. 7. Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City - WA Seller: Future Fund Buyer: Vicinity Centres Agents: CBRE Price: $475 million for 50 per cent stake ASX-listed Vicinity Centres has acquired a 50 per cent stake in a Western Australian shopping centre . The retail property investor announced the acquisition of part of the “fortress-style” Lakeside Joondalup centre, in “one of Perth’s principal activity centres”. It now co-owns the site with the Australian Prime Property Fund for retail managed by Lendlease, after Australia’s sovereign wealth fund Future Fund announced its intent to sell its half last year. 8. 388 George Street, Sydney Seller: Brookfield Asset Management Buyer: UOL Group Ltd JV Singapore Land Group Agents: CBRE, JLL Price: $460 million for 50 per cent stake Singaporean firm Singapore Land announced that it, in partnership with another subsidiary of its parent company UOL Group, had agreed to buy a half-stake in one of Brookfield’s office towers in Sydney . The subsidiaries have agreed to pay $460 million to take over the stake in the 28-storey tower at 388 George Street, Sydney, from Brookfield Asset Management. 9. National Australia Bank House, 255 George Street, Sydney Seller: Mirvac Buyer: Keppel REIT Agents: Cushman and Wakefield; JLL Price: $363.8 million for 50 per cent stake The acquisitive Keppel REIT has taken a half-stake in a Grade-A Sydney office building . An Asia Pacific investment manager with $9-billion portfolio of properties in Singapore, Tokyo, Perth and Seoul, Keppel acquired its stake for $363 million, highlighting its “excellent” ESG credentials. The Singaporean company now holds 50 per cent of Mirvac’s freehold 255 George Street. 10. Westfield Tea Tree Plaza - Adelaide Seller: Dexus Buyer: Scentre Group JV Barrenjoey Capital Partners Agents: CBRE Price: $308 million for 50 per cent interest Retail heavyweight Scentre Group has partnered up with an investment bank to take a half-stake in a major shopping centre in Adelaide’s north-east for $380 million . The deal to acquire 50 per cent of the Westfield Tea Tree Plaza also includes the Tea Tree Plus next door at Modbury, about 15km from the SA capital’s CBD. Scentre and Barrenjoey Capital Partners have stepped into the Westfield Tea Tree transaction under a preemptive agreement, marking their first foray into funds management, according to CBRE, whose head of retail capital markets, Pacific, Simon Rooney, negotiated the deal on behalf of a Dexus-managed fund

Top 10 Transactions of 2024

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