Epping office block sells for double its 2014 price

An Epping office block has sold for $36 million to a private buyer, a 118 percent increase on its $16.5 million purchase in 2014.

Centuria Metropolitan REIT (CMA) secured the sale of 3 Carlingford Road, which was sold fully-leased with a passing yield of 5.4 perecent.

The property gained a 27.2% premium between its last independent valuation in November 2017 and the sale.

CMA's Nicholas Blake said there were more than a dozen bidders competing for the block.

“We are clearly continuing to see a strong demand for metropolitan property – and in particular for high quality properties with development potential," Blake said.

“We usually look for and manage properties with an eye to leaving their purpose and use open-ended. Such flexibility is the best strategy to future-proof assets for investors, as well as addressing the need for high quality suburban stock.”

The sale campaign was run by Guillaume Volz and Henry Burke of Colliers International and Tim Grosmann and Graeme Russell from Savills.

Grosmann said the excellent result on Epping is a direct result of prime property fundamentals; a corner block, close proximity to a train station and strong rental reversion in a market that is starved of commercial suburban stock.