Childcare Property Market

Geelong’s booming drive-through coffee trade is set to provide a sweetener to investors as a Belmont childcare centre is offered at a major commercial property auction this month.

An Officeworks in Albury and a Melbourne childcare centre both sold for more than $10 million as investors chased regional commercial assets and early learning properties in portfolio auction sales. Burgess Rawson sold 37 of the 38 commercial properties on offer at its portfolio auctions this week for a combined $131 million.

The federal budget’s focus on jobs growth, business tax relief and infrastructure investment is expected to have knock-on benefits for commercial property, as consumer sentiment, investment and spending power rise.

While residential housing was a key focus of the budget, less was explicitly mentioned about commercial property. However, as the places where Australians do business, many of the announcements in the 2021-22 budget will impact the commercial property sector, both directly and indirectly.

The substantial freehold property that’s home to an inner city childcare centre is being eyed off as a potential development site in Geelong.

A waterfront pub on the Sunshine Coast and a Brisbane childcare centre each fetched more than $10 million as eager investors snapped up commercial assets with long leases worth in excess of $133 million in portfolio auctions.

Pubs, hardware stores, a burger restaurant and a TAB are expected to be hotly contested by investors in a $135 million portfolio auction.

Service stations and an Officeworks are expected to attract strong investor interest in an $86 million portfolio auction.

Childcare centres remain in strong demand as commercial property investors target essential services sectors during the coronavirus pandemic, with seven centres among $87 million worth of properties sold in the first big portfolio auctions of the year.