Aviation House in Canberra sells for 2016 record

A private investor from Queensland has snapped up Aviation House in Canberra for $68.1 million.

The sale by Colliers International director Tim Mutton represents the largest office building deal in Canberra this year.

Located in Woden, Aviation House was sold via an EOI process in conjunction with JLL.

The property is an A-Grade office building comprising 14,812 sqm of high quality office accomodation over nine levels.

It is a fully leased commercial asset underpinned by three Commonwealth Government tenants.

It received interest from international and local buyers seeking to invest in metropolitan markets across the eastern seaboard.

Tim said that Canberra is attracting maiden investors who are finding that supply is becoming increasingly scarce in the Sydney and Melbourne major office markets.

“Major office buildings with Commonwealth leases located in our town centres are seen as attractive investments as the Australian Government considers local impacts before moving tenants out of town centre locations, which we’ve recently seen with Customs and Border Protection staying in Belconnen.

Mutton said that Aviation House represented another strong sale in a Canberra town centre and is great news for businesses in the Woden area, being one of Canberra’s major community and commercial hubs servicing a retail trade area of about 432,000 people and with some 130,000sq m of office space occupied by Government tenants.

Woden has seen an increase in infrastructure projects undertaken by the ACT Government, including the investment of more than $10 million in improving the Bus Interchange and street scapes.

The nearby Westfield Woden Shopping Centre is also to be extended and redesigned.

According to Colliers International research, four major office buildings have sold in 2016 totalling $152.325 million. Tim Mutton expects four more major office buildings to transact before the end of the year.