Westfield top 10 malls: Westfield Sydney shines but Bondi Junction disappoints

Westfield top 10 malls: Westfield Sydney shines but Bondi Junction disappoints
Larry SchlesingerDecember 7, 2020

Westfield newest mall, Westfield Sydney and one of its older malls, Westfield Liverpool, were the top performing shopping centres in the Westfield Retail Trust over 2012, the trust's annual review has revealed.

The trust comprises 47 malls, 38 in Australia and nine in New Zealand and generated $20.9 billion in sales for the 12 months to December 31 last year with a 2% rise in earnings.

Without any major new international brands to tempt shoppers, Westfield Liverpool on the outer western outskirts of Sydney managed 7.8% growth in annual sales, which reached $470 million over 2012.

The centre, built in 1971, has been extended and redeveloped three times in its life, firstly in 1991, again in 1993, and more recently in 2006, offering 85,000 square metres of retail space and 342 stores.

At the glitzy end of town, Westfield Sydney on Pitt Street Mall, which was completed in April last year, generated 5.7% growth in sales, which reached $837 million in 2012, helped by its mix of international retailers including Gap and Zara.

Westfield Sydney is the jewel in the Westfield crown standing on Australia’s most expensive retail strip and one of its biggest stores with 167,000 square metres of retail space built at a cost of $1.34 billion.

By comparison, Fountain Gate mall in Melbourne, the biggest in the group at 175,000 square metres, generated just 0.4% growth in sales. Sales may have been impacted by a $170 million face lift, which was only completed in September last year.

Sales at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney's eastern suburbs fell 0.6% to $961 million.

Westfield’s top 10 performing Australian malls by sales growth in 2012

Store

State

Retail space

(sqms)

Sales growth in 2012

Total sales

Yield

Liverpool

NSW

85,000

7.8%

$470 m

6.25%

North Lakes

QLD

61,000

5.9%

$390 m

6.25%

Westfield Sydney

NSW

167,000

5.7%

$837 m

5.29%

Plenty Valley

VIC

54,000

5.4%

$312 m

6.50%

Innaloo

WA

47,000

5.3%

$294 m

7.00%

Carousel

WA

82,000

4.7%

$569 m

5.75%

Figtree

NSW

22,000

4.1%

$175 m

7.50%

Doncaster

VIC

123,000

3.8%

$339 m

6.50%

Whitford City

WA

78,000

3.0%

$456 m

6.75%

Helensvale

QLD

45,000

2.5%

$339 m

6.50%

Source: Westfield Retail Trust Annual Review 

Westfield Retail Trust reported $20.9 billion in annual retails sales last year from its portfolio of Australian and New Zealand malls as part of annual results recently released.

It reported speciality retail sales of $9,852 per square metre from its 38 Australian malls and NZ$8,520 in speciality sales from its nine New Zealand malls.

The 47 malls are valued at $12.6 billion.

In total the portfolio offers 3.7 million square metres of gross lettable retail space with a 99.5% occupancy rate and 12,342 retail outlets.

The return on its portfolio is 5.9% in Australia and 7.5% in New Zealand with a total average yield of 6%.

Larry Schlesinger

Larry Schlesinger was a property writer at Property Observer

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