$86m Chadstone mega deal: Bunnings-backed homemaker centre snapped up
If there’s a sign that Melbourne’s commercial property market has turned a new leaf, this is it.
The $86.025 million sale of a Chadstone homemaker centre – an accompaniment to Australia’s largest shopping centre – was managed by Stonebridge Property Group’s Justin Dowers, Philip Gartland and Kevin Tong following an on-market expressions-of-interest campaign.
The vendor’s – BWP Trust – offloading of the asset follows its recent acquisition of HomeCentre Morayfield in Queensland for $48 million.
Chadstone Homemaker Centre comprises of major anchor Bunnings Warehouse, as well as other big box retailers such as Officeworks and Freedom.
Mr Dowers says this represents a new chapter for inflows of capital back into Victoria.
“We are now seeing increasing depth of enquiry for Melbourne-based retail assets, with competition returning as pricing expectations realign. We expect transaction activity in Victoria to increase materially this year,” he said.
It represents the largest large-format retail transaction in the state since 2021, according to Stonebridge, and follows the strength of retail seen in 2025.
Stonebridge attributes the strength in the retail sector to strong population growth and infrastructure investment.
Ray White research found retail was the second-most popular asset class to invest in 2025, at 22.1% of all sales volume.
This represents a 43.8% uptick to $18.9 billion and trails only industrial in terms of volume.
Victoria saw the third-highest sales volume, at just over a fifth (20.2%) of the $85.58 billion commercial pie.
Some monster shopping centre transactions took place in 2025, including Queensland’s Logan Hyperdome for $678 million; a 50% or $385m stake in Victoria’s Northland Shopping Centre was also sold to Nikos Property Group.
This year has also started strongly with a 50% stake in Westfield Marion, Adelaide’s largest shopping centre, listed for sale on behalf of Singaporean private investment group Cuscaden Peak, with price expectations north of $650m.
CBRE head of research Sameer Chopra, in the broker’s 2026 Pacific Outlook, said relative scarcity in stock is set to accelerate values.
“New supply is set to undershoot historical levels by 20% to 50% for the rest of the decade,” Mr Chopra said. “With reduced property choice, the alternatives for investors and renters are increasingly limited.”
Mr Chopra identified Sydney and Melbourne shopping centres as being particularly ripe for growth.
