Investors to fill up as six servos go to auction

Investors can fill up on service station investments next month when a string of retail fuel properties are put on the block.

Six of the 21 properties listed for sale at Burgess Rawson’s final Portfolio Auction event of the year are service stations, with the asset class continuing to see significant turnover as both vendors and buyers take advantage of strong trading conditions.

Among them are properties leased to 7-Eleven, Shell and United across metropolitan and regional Victoria and New South Wales.

And agents expect competition to secure the assets to remain , with significant unsatisfied demand spilling over from previous auctions.

Burgess Rawson director Raoul Holderhead says the agency’s Portfolio Auction in October saw 56 underbidders miss out on fuel retail properties, with many of them expected to make a play for the next available opportunities.

“As fuel is a non-discretionary purchase and a major component of the weekly budget essentials for Australians, the $31.4 billion industry remained relatively immune to the impact of COVID-19,” Holderhead says.

“Throughout the year, demand for high quality retail fuel investments has remained strong. Our most recent results have delivered results well above reserve.”

The 7-Eleven site.

Headlining the properties up for sale at the Portfolio Auction on Wednesday, December 9 is a 7-Eleven at Melbourne’s Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre, with is expect to sell north of $5 million.

Currently returning $252,919 per annum plus GST, the property has an 18-year lease to 7-Eleven to 2035, plus options to 2045.

Holderhead says the property also has significant upside.

“The location is unbeatable, the lease is longer than standard, and the rent is highly affordable,” he says.

“And a full refurbishment is planned, with fuel works commencing in the New Year.”

Among recent fuel sales results, a a 7-Eleven/McDonalds at Toowoomba in Queensland sold for $8.62 million on a yield of 5.2%, while Shell/Viva at Camberwell – pegged as a potential development site – sold for $6.5 million on a yield of just 2.06%.

Burgess Rawson’s Investment Portfolio Auction will be held from 11am AEDT on Wednesday, December 9.