Brand new Bunnings Warehouse in Queensland

A brand new Bunnings Warehouse in Queensland is set to be the first of the hardware giant’s freestanding stores to be sold in 2019.

The Kingaroy property, developed by one of Australia’s most experienced Bunnings builders, is being offered to market prior to its official opening on June 4.

Developer Nic De Luca has constructed 24 Bunnings stores across Queensland and New South Wales for Wesfarmers since 2007, marking Kingaroy as another carefully selected and highly profitable location.

Burgess Rawson director Billy Holderhead says the 24,200sqm site at 2 Walter Rd is even more rare because of an included 3190sqm parcel of land that will allow the store to expand.

“It’s difficult to find Bunnings investments including land for them to expand into as their store matures, but here you’ve got a substantial piece of land that will future-proof the property for decades,” he says.

“Only two of the last 14 freestanding Bunnings freeholds brought to market have included vacant land on the title for future expansion.”

The new store is being offered with a 10-year lease plus eight six-year options, an income of $800,000 plus GST and outgoings per annum, with 2.5% rent increases built into the deal.

Burgess Rawson has sold nine of the last 22 Bunnings freehold properties brought to market, including the December sale of the chain’s Glenorchy store, which traded on a record-breaking yield of 3.13%.

As yet, no Bunnings-leased assets sold thus far in 2019 and Holderhead said that scarcity means the Kingaroy campaign will be an important barometer for the state of the market.

“With huge demand and a near critical lack of supply, average yields for freestanding Bunnings investments fell sharply from 5.97% in 2017 to 4.67% in 2018, highlighted by the Glenorchy sale,” he said.

Burgess Rawson director Glenn Conridge said the interest has already been very strong.

“No freestanding Bunnings investments have been sold on the market yet in 2019, so the asset is enjoying the full attention of everyone from private family offices to large institutions looking to make a play for it.”

“We expect this to translate to a very strong result for our vendor client,” he added.

The Kingaroy property is surrounded by complementary retailers including Harvey Norman, BFC, Hyundai, Ford, Nissan and Mitre 10.

It will be sold through expressions of interest, which close on Wednesday, June 19 at 4pm.