Fawkner Property has acquired the Willows Shopping Centre in Townsville, Queensland, from Dexus Wholesale Property Fund for $212 million.

The gross leasable area at Willows is 44,507 sq m and anchor tenants include Big W, Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Rebel, TK Maxx, JB-Hi-Fi and Cotton On, as well as 107 specialist stores.

The shopping center generates annual sales of over $360 million.

“As interest rates potentially enter a stabilisation phase, private capital, which has dominated this investment space for the past two years, is moving quickly to secure high-quality, large retail assets at attractive yields as this window of opportunity begins to close,” said Simon Rooney, head of retail capital markets, Pacific, at CBRE.

“We have recently witnessed a return of foreign and domestic institutional investors to the sub-regional and regional shopping centre sector, given the attractive returns on offer. This should translate into growth in retail volumes as we close out 2024 and continue into 2025.”

Rooney negotiated the transaction on behalf of Fawkner Property, while Stonebridge and JLL represented Dexus.

The transaction follows Fawkner Property’s acquisition of retail assets in Gladstone, Mackay and Cairns.

“We are seeing significant growth in capital demand for retail, with the majority of investors returning to the sector investing in the sub-regional asset class given the available yields and abundant land resources in these centres,” said Nick Willis, senior director at JLL.

“The sale comes as sub-regional centre transaction volumes are expected to reach almost $1.2 billion per annum in 2024, down around 55 per cent from the average annual volume for the sub-sector over the three-year period,” added Sam Hatcher, head of retail investment at JLL in Australia.