Retail

Competitive e-sports spaces, VR experiences and a quick commute to a co-working space could become part of your shopping experience as malls look to fill the gap created by department store downsizing.

Commercial property transactions are on track to top last year’s record annual total of $37.8 billion, as volumes are driven higher by ever-larger portfolio deals and a slew of big-ticket individual transactions.

Commercial property buyers have seized almost $70 million worth of property at Burgess Rawson’s final Melbourne Portfolio Auction event of 2019.

Vicinity Centres chief operating officer Peter Huddle has one of the biggest tasks in Australian retail property. He is responsible for driving the performance of some of the best luxury malls in the country — including Sydney’s much-loved QVB and Melbourne’s landmark Chadstone — while also turning around some of Vicinity’s less glamorous properties.

A smattering of retail landlords will be scrambling to renegotiate leases with the receivers of fallen retail homewares chain Harris Scarfe.

The champagne fountain was cascading at the unveiling of the David Jones Elizabeth Street ground-floor launch this week.

This has been another good year for commercial property markets. Continued inflow of funds searching for yield as bond rates fell further has driven a tendency for yields to continue to firm. And it’s not just property. This applies to asset markets across the board, both unlisted and listed.

Local buyers have outmuscled international developers to secure a prominent commercial site in Camberwell in an eight-figure December sale.

On the main thoroughfare of Innisfail is the opportunity to buy an investment that will stand the test of time.