Cromwell has divested its Bunnings Warehouse, located in the booming northern corridor of Adelaide. The asset was acquired by Charter Hall for $48.8 million, reflecting a yield of 4.25% which set a new benchmark for South Australian Bunnings Warehouse investments.
Bunnings Warehouse Munno Para West is the first metropolitan located Bunnings Warehouse to be publicly marketed since 2019. Colliers’ James Wilson, Chris Maher and Alistair Mackie negotiated the sale via a public EOI campaign.
“Bunnings Warehouse investments continue to be one of the most hotly contested retail investments under the current market conditions. Established funds and private investors are facing growing competition from emerging groups targeting the attractive Bunnings Warehouse net lease covenant, as highlighted by the competitive bidding received for the Bunnings Warehouse Munno Para West campaign. Colliers have announced over $230 million in value of Bunnings Warehouse transactions nationally already in 2021, with all metropolitan and non-metropolitan transactions reporting core cap rates below 5%”, said James Wilson, National Director (NSW) of Colliers Retail Investment Services.
Despite Bunnings Warehouse Munno Para West being marketed and executed under lockdown conditions across multiple states, the strong result was achieved as both private investors and funds continue to focus on hardware investments with a strong covenant, given their defensive and ‘essential services’ nature.
“We are experiencing unprecedented demand from investors seeking to deploy capital into ‘pandemic proof’ assets with strong underlying land value, long term income growth and covenant security. Bunnings Warehouse Munno Para West is a prime example of such an asset and thus the exceptional investor engagement throughout the campaign. The growing demand of institutional and private capital targeting this asset class resulted in competitive bidding and ultimately an offer secured ‘on contract’ having due diligence completed prior to the close of the EOI, and all during lockdown conditions,” said Chris Maher, Director (QLD) of Retail Investment Services at Colliers.
Single-tenanted Large Format Retail (LFR) assets, in particular Hardware, are in strong demand as evidenced through the heightened activity in this sub-sector. In the 2021 year to date, there have been 11 Bunnings Warehouses transacted which is already as much as the entire 2020 period.
The average yield for the Bunnings Warehouses transacted year to date is 4.55%, excluding the subject asset which transacted well below, recording a sharp 4.25% yield. Freestanding hardware asset average yields, 2021 year to date have compressed by 23 bps on the prior year, with LFR assets showing the strongest tightening across all retail sub-classes with average yields dropping by 117 bps.
This prized asset comprises a modern 16,936m2 Bunnings Warehouse on a prominent 41,060m2 corner site, strategically positioned in the booming urban growth corridor of Adelaide, approximately 38km north of Adelaide CBD.
“Bunnings Warehouse Munno Para West is the largest freestanding retail investment to be publicly marketed in South Australia for some time. This market-leading Bunnings Warehouse covenant, combined with its strategic location within Adelaide’s booming northern growth corridor, generated unprecedented purchaser engagement. The campaign highlighted the significant amount of unsatisfied local high net worth investor and fund capital looking to be placed into the local South Australian market”, said Alistair Mackie, National Director of South Australian Investment Services at Colliers.
Colliers’ James Wilson and Alex James-Elliott have recently launched Bunnings Warehouse Kempsey for sale via EOI. This brand-new Bunnings Warehouse investment is located on the NSW mid-north coast, and is being sold via a fund-through structure.
