Industrial Real Estate

The pandemic-propelled demand for cold storage facilities has seen it become a valuable, yet scarce, commodity. A run of recent sales reveals the strength of the cold storage and food distribution property sector as an asset class.

It might look like a standard industrial warehouse but it’s attracting more interest than any other commercial property on the market around Australia. Here’s why.

Once the nerve centre of Fremantle’s wool industry, this landmark heritage warehouse provides a blank commercial canvas and opportunity to create the next chapter of history. Redeveloped by M/Group as Heirloom by Match in 2016, the former Dalgety Wool Store has been transformed into a New York-style industrial warehouse with 183 completed residential apartments and a dual-use commercial space, which has been listed for sale at $1.6 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.

Zero vacancies remain at the $149 million Horsley Park industrial estate in Western Sydney, after a US game manufacturer acquired the final lease in April.

Property funds group Charter Hall has snapped up the home of the Four’N Twenty meat pie from Patties Foods, in a $141m deal that will see the pie maker pour capital back into its factories. Charter Hall’s unlisted industrial fund has bought two food manufacturing facilities in Victoria from Patties in a 30-year sale and leaseback deal, with the purchase also covering the site where its meals range is produced.

Cashed-up Gold Coast apartment dwellers looking for somewhere to park the boat, helicopter, collector cars, jetskis and bikes are driving millions in sales of new-age luxury ‘mancaves’ and ‘she-sheds’.

An industrial warehouse with close to 9000sqm of floor space is set to fetch an incredible price as the commercial property market reaches new highs.