Huge crowd sees Eastwood shop top $7m in once-in-40-years sale

An Eastwood retail store occupying just 303.5sqm of land sold for $7.25m when it was auctioned for the first time in 40 years.

The property at 159 Rowe St, located in the bustling local mall, attracted a huge crowd of 300 people when it went under the hammer.

The premises, which has dual street access, is currently used by a discount variety store PK Pacific Ocean.

Commercial Insights: Subscribe to receive the latest news and updates

Agent Victor Sheu from Ray White Commercial NSW Western Sydney said it was one of their most competitive campaigns with almost 200 enquiries received both locally and internationally. More than 60 contracts were issued on the property.

The property has dual frontages.

“We had close to 20 bidders attend the auction and 55 bids later what we achieved was amazing,” he says.

Bidding started at $3.477 million and quickly jumped in excess of $5 million before finishing at $7.25 million.

The store is located less than 300m from Eastwood train station and has a net passing income of $143,077.50. It has dual frontages onto both Hillview Lane and Rowe Street plus a lettable area of 340sqm.

Peter Vines, managing director of Ray White Commercial NSW, Western Sydney attributed the result to record low interest rates and a lack of stock in the market.

The auction attracted a strong crowd in the popular mall.

“There is a real influx of people who can’t get a return at the bank who are looking to place their money in property.

According to CoreLogic RP Data, it follows the sale of another retail outlet in the popular mall in June. The property at 137 Rowe St, set on 307 sqm, sold for $5.78 million in a deal which settled in August. It had previously sold for $1.25 million in March 1992.

Another two storey retail outlet used as a restaurant at 140 Rowe St, set on a 575 sqm block, fetched $8.75m when it was sold in February this year.

This article from the Northern District Times originally appeared as “Retail shop in bustling Eastwood Mall sells for $7.25m”.