Highpoint Lifestyle Centre quietly sells for $32m amid soaring rents
98-108 Hampstead Rd, Maidstone, has sold in a $32m deal arranged quietly in the aftermath of the Albanese government’s federal budget.
The Highpoint Lifestyle Centre shopping complex has quietly sold for a $32m in a result that suggests Melbourne’s online shopping takeover is yet to hit big ticket items.
And the agent who brokered the deal has suggested it could be a stepping stone towards apartment towers being added to the site.
While many once-vibrant shopping strips around the city have recorded increased vacancy since the Covid pandemic hit, the Maidstone property’s value has increased by $7.5m since it last sold in 2019 — despite recently losing one of its major tenants with the collapse of Barbeques Galore.
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Ray White’s Rick Silberman handled the sale, as well as its last changing of hands seven years ago, and said rents for large format retail stores were still growing in Melbourne as shoppers still preferred being able to park nearby for major purchases.
Shops at the 98-108 Hampstead Rd, Maidstone, complex include Baby Bunting, 99 Bikes, Salvos, and Supercheap Auto.
It is located about 1km from Highpoint Shopping Centre, Victoria’s third largest plaza, and Australia’s fifth biggest, on Rosamond Rd, Maribyrnong, which is owned by Aussie commercial property investment giant GPT.
Major retailers remain on site, but national chain Barbeques Galore is being wound up after it sank into administration and a rescue package could not be arranged.
“It points to the fact that rents have soared in large format retail,” Mr Silberman said.
“While much has been made of the challenges facing commercial property, land-rich retail investments remain in exceptionally short supply.”
Part of the reason behind it was the car-side service many larger retail operators were offering, with venues like Baby Buntings open to installing new child seats in cars for their buyers — and many buyers still wanting to test ride and physically inspect things like a bike before purchasing.
“And they are just so tightly held in Victoria, this is only the third centre of this calibre to trade this year,” Mr Silberman said.
He added that with mixed-use zoning, the retail centre could also have scope for apartment towers in the future.
He estimated as many as 400 to 6000 apartments could be added to it under the current zoning.
The agent said a local private family had arranged to buy the property in a case of “right time, right place” without the complex ever officially being marketed for sale.
The property’s mixed-use zoning could sustain multi-tower apartment complex development.
Completed in a matter of weeks, he said negotiations had only begun after the Albanese government’s May budget announced major changes to property investor tax benefits for negative gearing and capital gains tax that could ultimately favour typically higher rental returns for commercial property than residential.
At present the site is returning a 4.49 per cent rental yield of about $1.436m a year, a figure that is likely to rise with the addition of another tenant in the future.
The property spans 1.9ha, with 8072sq m of retail space, and extensive carparking as well as 260m of frontage to Hampstead Rd.
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